


Aeternum

by MidnightNinja27



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: About half those characters are only mentioned, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Ciel Phantomhive, Cannibalism, Ciel has PTSD, Dark Ciel Phantomhive, Demon Alois Trancy, Demon Ciel Phantomhive, Demon Circle, Demon Deals, Domestic Fluff, Exhibitionism, F/M, Faerie rings, Fallen Angel Lucifer, Fallen Angel Original Character, Fallen Angels are not demons but still a part a Hell, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hell, Is it really tho if they’re demons?, Light Angst, Light Smut, Lucifer in the Cage, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Miscarriage, Mpreg, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Possessive Sebastian Michaelis, Princes Of Hell, Sebastian was human, Slight Alpha/Omega Dynamics, Succubi & Incubi, The Underage and Rape isn’t Sebaciel, Torture, Trans Female Grell Sutcliff, not really alternate universe, original demon characters - Freeform, post season two, soul eating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:15:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 50
Words: 54,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23412943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightNinja27/pseuds/MidnightNinja27
Summary: AU: Post Season TwoIn the very depths of Hell, do Demons not love one another?131 years after his supposed death, Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis finds himself living in Twenty-First Century America. With a far too suspicious modern world, the demon will have to balance hiding among them and living his immortal life with his mate of a hundred years.Meanwhile, back in 1889, Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus are trying to find a way to live together now that they are both forcefully mates.The title is Latin for ”Eternity”.
Relationships: Angelina Dalles | Madame Red/Vincent Phantomhive, Baron Burnett/Angelina Dalles | Madame Red, Claude Faustus/Alois Trancy, Lilith/Lucifer, Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Rachel Phantomhive/Vincent Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive, William T. Spears/Grell Sutcliff
Comments: 20
Kudos: 110





	1. Demon Facts

•There are three ways to categorize demons: by sin, by form, and by preference.

•Every demon has one of the seven deadly sins tattooed on their thigh that shows what sin they especially commit. Wrath is the rarest sin, followed by Pride, Lust, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony and Greed.

•Every demon is one of a kind, there is only one lion demon for example and only one oak demon.

They are either a plant or an animal, with the latter being stronger.

•And finally, every demon is dominant —incubi— or submissive —succubi— natured, Sebastian for example is the former while Ciel is the latter.

• Usually, demons go by the name of their form, seeing actual names as a human thing they adopt only when in contracts or living among humans.

• Also, the only certain way to kill a demon is to use a demonic weapon, which tend to be swords as that is the preset, anything different had to be created by melting/carving the demon sword and making the weapon of choice.

• In Hell, many demons join Houses which is a collective of demons similar to them: reptile demons stick together as do the insects and so on.

Some demons join packs and travel/make contracts and deals in them.

• Every demon is capable of magic, but their proficiency depends simply on the demon: some master it naturally and others struggle with it eternally.

•Most demons are turned and were once human, very few demons were born demons and they are referred to as "Puries".

•Demons have very low fertility and reproduction is rare as it requires a lot is steps.

First, the submissive has to eat a soul. Then, they perform the act of mating in their true forms. Finally, the submissive must drink the dominant's blood.

• Hell is ruled by seven princes in the stead of the King, Lucifer.

The only way to become a prince is to kill the prince of the same sin as yourself.

•Demon Hound Venom is fatal to non-demons But is a drug/tranquilizer to demons.

•Demons can only mate once in their lives, if their mate dies they cannot remate.

Most demons do not mate, they simply take each other as partners so they don't have to deal with that kind of commitment.

•After collected, souls take a crystal form, with blue being the highest quality and yellow being the worst.

If a soul doesn't take a crystallized form —unless eaten immediately— it a stolen or broken, therefore tainted, and not in the good way, soul.

•Every demon has black nails and red eyes, though the latter can easily be changed while the former cannot.

Demons have very little control over their human forms, if they were turned, their forms are just their human body with added sex appeal.

•Every demon's true form has black leather stiletto boots.


	2. Prologue

Narrator's POV

Deep below the Earth, so deep down that the location might be considered a pocket universe, was Hell.

Hell was not a realm of fire and brimstone like humans believed, but rather a cave of pure darkness lit only by strange objects the inhabitants have taken to calling flameglass.

Hell was divided into four sections: Lodgings, the Marketplace, Tortured Souls and the Palace.

The latter most was located in the center of it all.

In the heart of the palace, was a cage where the King of Hell, Lucifer, had been trapped since little after the creation of mankind.

But in the King's stead, ruled seven princes that lived in the Palace around the Cage.

The Princes each represented the Seven Deadly Sins, as every demon had a sin marked on their skin that classified them.

But on August 26, 1889, the day after his near defeat at the hands of Sebastian Michaelis, Claude Faustus made his way into the Palace.

Claude, or rather Spider —since demons were regarded by their animal or plant names among each other since names were human things they only adopted during contracts— entered the Grand Palace were the Seven Princes were waiting for him.

Not all of the Princes were male, three of them —lust, envy, and sloth— were woman, but all were Princes of Hell.

Spider was a demon of Gluttony and thus he knelt before the current Prince of Gluttony, a man with dark skin and amber, almost yellow eyes similar to his own.

Spider already knew why he was here, he had broken the only Law in Hell: he broke a contract.

Floating above the Princes were two things: a glowing blue vial containing a soul and the body of Alois Trancy.

The Prince Of Gluttony stood from his throne, his amber eyes Turing red and then magenta as he kicked him, sending him to the floor and several feet away, "We have just one law in Hell, Spider: make a deal, keep it. There's a reason why we don't call our chips in early: consumer confidence! This isn't Wall Street, this is Hell! We have a little something called integrity. If word gets out about this, who will deal with us? Nobody! And then where'd we be?"

The Prince sat back on his throne, "Because Of your relation to the House of Insects (one of the biggest clans in Hell), you are allowed your life but you will still be punished. Your last contract will be reinstated, making you once more the servant of Alois Trancy. His life will also be returned since we still have it bottled up. Additionally, he will be turned into a demon making your contract unable to be concluded. Lastly, you shall make him your mate, properly."

Spider gulped: demons were only able to mate once in their life, if that mate died they were out of luck.

Gluttony's Prince snapped, bringing both floating things down to waist level.

The Prince then uncorked the vial, making the soul return to its body.

He then grabbed Alois' chin, digging his black nails into his skin, chanting in the old language.

Spider watched as Alois' human fingernails gained the lack color signature to demons and then the sun appeared on his thigh: Envy.

Lastly, as if sealing it, blue and black butterfly wings emerged from Alois' back.

Alois gasped as he was reborn, falling to the ground on his butt as he looked at his surroundings, "W-Where am I?"

The Prince Of Envy took over from here, standing and walking forward, her hazel eyes already analyzing the new demon.

"Welcome, Butterfly, you cast the chains of your human life and have been reborn as a demon." Envy's Prince greeted, "I know you must have many questions, Spider here will be happy to answer them all and he will serve you faithfully from now on."

Alois followed the Prince's gaze, seeing his demon, "Claude?"

Claude grimaced, "Hello, Master."...


	3. Quiet Times

Narrator's POV

In the autumn of 2019, a woman with long black hair floated around a room of darkness, blood splatter on her face from the sacrifice caused by her child's murder.

Her child was killed by her ex-husband in a fit of drunken rage.

The woman heard a disembodied voice, one that sounded young, "What has been sacrificed may never be returned. What do you wish for?"

"Kill my husband, help before he can hurt my r-remaining children!" The woman screamed

A chuckle was heard, "I will do it, for the price of your soul."

"I-I'll do anything just make him disappear." The woman said, "And bring my son back to life!"

"I cannot do that last bit, as I said, what has been scarified can never be returned." The voice said more sternly as the woman was lowered to the ground

As she landed, a form appeared in front of her, taking the form of a teenage boy wearing a black lace eyepatch that looked to be around the age of her son.

The boy had navy hair —or at least what she thought was navy in the darkness– he wore a long-sleeved, full-body bodysuit of black lace with black leather booty-shorts, corset as well as stiletto boots.

But what really stood out about him was the cat ears and tail that seemed to be a part of his body that were the same color as his hair, the sharp black nails and his glowing magenta eyes.

As he walked closer, she saw a tattoo on his thigh, nearly hidden by his shorts that read 'Pride', he held his hand out to her.

The woman grabbed it and once more found herself hiding behind the sofa, holding her remaining children as her ex-husband walked around the couch to get them.

She held her children closer and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst when she heard a shout and her ex's gun go off multiple times.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!" He screamed as a rip and laughing was heard

After a moment of silence, the only sound to be heard was the soft tapping of stiletto heels tapping against the wood floor.

The woman opened her eyes as the tapping stopped, seeing the demon standing before her: she knew payment was due.

She kissed both of her children's heads and told them that she loved them and tilted her head up, her soul getting sucked into the demon's mouth.

***

Minutes later, a fed Ciel shifted back into his human form as he appeared back in his apartment a few blocks away.

He stood from where he had been sitting on the sofa and wondered around, Sebastian was out getting groceries right now —since Ciel still had a massive sweet tooth even though he was a demon— and picking up some money from the bank since their rent was due soon.

Before he had faked his own death, Ciel sold a fourth of his company to a 'Dominik Ghast' which was just to his own private bank account.

And Funtom was still thriving, having been left to the Midfords after his 'death' —along with the rest of his belongings and estates —excluding the townhouse which had gone to Prince Soma.

Bored, Ciel sat back on the sofa and looked out the nearby window into the bustling streets of New York below, so much had passed in the 130 years since he had been a demon, so many advancements made in every aspect of life, and of course, more people willing to sell their souls.

Since he had just eaten, he wouldn't have to eat again for a few years, most likely five because of the mediocre quality of the soul.

Flipping on the tv, the 143 year old demon found himself watching some baking show and watched it just for the noise and the occasional delicious visual.

Ciel sat there for quite a while, wearing only boxers and one of Sebastian's old t-shirts —from Cats the Musical when it first played in Broadway back in the early 1980's— before Sebastian returned.

Ciel greeted him, they had been together for around 120 years, but had been mates for a century as of a few month ago; it had taken them about a decade at first to adapt to their new life and their sexual and romantic tension.

Because of the new fashion trends, Sebastian wore a black leather jacket, a plain white t-shirt, ripped black jeans, black fingerless gloves and black Dr. Martens.

Sebastian snapped, all of the groceries going where they were supposed to as he sat next to his mate.

"I'm bored." Ciel said, leaning against him

"I haven't paid the rent yet, we could move cities if you want." Sebastian said, kissing his head

"I guess, some big city, or some tiny one where all the deals are fun." Ciel said, remembering that small towns usually had unique deals since demons tended to stay in bigger cities

"Maine?" Sebastian suggested, storing Ciel's hair

"Sure, I guess." Ciel said, "It's winter right? So it'd be snowing?"

"Not quite yet, dearest, it's October." Sebastian said

"Tell me a story." Ciel requested, looking up at the taller demon

"About what?" Sebastian asked

"You always shy away whenever I ask about your youth, so tell me about it." Ciel clarified

"That's a long story, lovely."

"Well I have nothing but time."

Sebastian sighed, "Give or take a few years, but twelve hundred years ago in the late eighth century, I was human..."


	4. Sebastian’s Past

Narrator's POV

In 894 AD, in a country that no longer exists, there was a tiny village That contained just five families.

One day, a lone man entered the small village, saying that he was spreading God's word and asking how many young boys and girls lived there.

In the first four families, there were about twelve girls total and no boys.

But in the final family, there were no girls but one boy, and the young boy introduced himself to the stranger.

Late that night, the young boy of barely ten years woke to the smell of smoke as he was picked up by the stranger as the rest of the villagers were killed and their homes burning.

The boy was soon sold into slavery, forced to mine for salt with around twenty other boys of the same age.

For the next ten years he was enslaved until he was rescued by a church, who wanted him as a new disciple.

The now twenty year old was asked to find all the kittens he could find and he did, he found five kittens thinking the church was having a problem with mice.

But, that belied was soon shattered when the priest placed them all on an alter and handed him a sickle, saying "The Lord demands sacrifice to earn Christ's forgiveness."

The boy swung the sickle above his head and brought it down, killing all five of the kittens.

After the deed was done, the boy looked down to the cross he wore, the one that his father had carved for him when he was a boy of four years and ripped it off his neck.

He tried to hand it to the priest, saying he quit but the priest refused to let him leave.

The boy threw the wooden cross, rope and all, into the nearby fire.

"That's what I think of your fucking God." The boy hissed at him, rushing off to his own room to gather his things

When the boy reached his room, he stopped in front of his window and began to sob, hitting the wall.

The boy now found himself floating in a room of darkness, being asked what he desired and that the sacrifice could never be undone.

"I want power. I want revenge. I want a new life." The boy said

The voice in the darkness chuckled, "I will give you all of that, but at a price."

"What do you want, I have nothing save my life."

"I want you to be my apprentice." The voice said

"Deal." The boy said, taking the demon's hand

The boy collapsed as he was turned, his nails turning black as black raven wings emerged from his back.

The boy, now demon, started to stand as his brown eyes turned red and then magenta.

"Who are you?" The new demon asked

"I am Wolf, and from now on you are Raven." The demon told the younger one, "Now, Raven, go back down to the priest and unleash Hell."

Raven nodded, mindlessly going with the flow, killing all of the church members, leaving the priest for last o he could enjoy it.

Raven smiled as he finished the final kill, seeing the rips in his robe, seeing the word 'Wrath' on his upper left thigh.

***

A eight hundred years passed since that day and how it was May in 1693.

Raven, who had long forgotten his original name, found himself in Salem, Massachusetts.

Since he was bored, he decided to have a bit of fun, which of course meant making drama for humans.

He tormented a sleepwalking girl, telling her that he was the Devil and that she should sign his book and become a witch.

Raven then cussed mayhem into another house, making them believe that yeh sleepwalking girl was a witch tormenting them.

That's all the effort it took for the girls of Salem to start accuse each other of witchcraft over the next year.

What Raven didn't know then that this would always be known as the Salem Witch Trial and that 20 people would be killed, none of which were witches.

But he sure enjoyed every bit of it watching it happen, enjoyed the misery and fear in the air.

***

The demon's life was filled with boring contracts and deals, but nearly two hundred years later, Came the most interesting contract of the demon's life...


	5. The Spider’s Web

Narrator's POV

Back in 1889, Claude sighed for what felt like the hundredth time as he held Alois' hand as he led him out of the Grand Palace.

The spider demon led the butterfly one towards the center of the Lodgings sections, leading him to the House of Insects.

As the approached the rundown looking cottage, Alois asked Claude where they were going.

Claude sighed and pushed up his glasses, "We are going to the House of Insects since you qualify as a member. I will introduce you to Queen Bee and if she accepts you then you will have the backing of the house should you ever find yourself in trouble. After that we will rest for the night and figure out what to do next."

"Who is Queen Bee?" Alois asked

"She runs the House of Insects and has the respect and fear of the Princes, which is something every demon strives for." Claude explained, opening the door, "Treat her with the upmost respect and you might be accepted."

Alois softly gasped as what he expected to be the interior of a small, rotting cottage revealed a giant mansion complete with a chandelier that looked like a beehive.

Claude yanked Alois left and opened another door, revealing a woman sitting at a desk.

The woman had dark skin that seemed to be only a shade lighter than the night sky, her eyes so golden they put Claude's to shame, sharp black nails that would cut steel, a necklace of crystallized honeycomb and, most contrastingly, she wore a gown of the brightest yellow Alois had ever seen.

But, Alois found himself staring at her antennas and the bees flying around them and the honeycomb around her neck.

"I see we have a new Butterfly." Queen Bee said, "Good, I didn't like the last one, her sloth was so annoying. What is your sin, boy?"

"Envy, ma'am." Alois said, remembering that tattoo on his thigh

"Ma'am? What a proper younggin you are, the boys around here could learn a thing or two about how to treat a lady. Present your right ankle." Queen Bee laughed

Alois did as told, pulling down his stocking, presenting the ankle to her.

Queen Bee pressed a finger to it and the symbol of the house appeared: a bee with spider legs, butterfly wings and a scorpion stinger.

"Welcome to my house, Butterfly, I hope you last longer than our last one. Spider, be a dear and show him to his room."

Claude nodded and did as told, having Alois follow him to the second to top floor and down a long hallway.

Claude opened the door engraved with a butterfly, revealing a bedroom Alois was not expecting a demon to be given.

The room was small, around ten feet wide and twenty feet long, but every inch was beautiful.

Two thin trees grew from the floor, its low hanging branches held onto a hammock that seemed to be made out of pink roses. The black tile floor was covered in gras, vines grew down the walls and the back wall contained a door that led to a balcony.

Alois loved it, his wings fluttered, lifting him a few inches off the ground in his excitement.

"Where's your room, Claude?" Alois asked

"In the second floor." Claude answered, sighing again, "Flying bugs get higher up rooms and Queen Bee takes up the entire top floor."

Alois pulled Claude into his bedroom, setting him on the hammock and closing the door.

Alois sat next to him, "I'm sorry your stuck with me, Claude."

Claude didn't reply, but Alois continued, "I wasn't mad that you killed me, I was just disappointed and kinda betrayed. I hoped that you'd like me more than Ciel, but you didn't."

Alois began to tear up, "You chose Ciel, everyone chose Ciel, except Hannah. I didn't want her to care, I wanted you to care or at least pretend to. But no, you were more interesting in stealing Ciel from Sebastian than getting my revenge on Sebastian."

Claude finally looked at Alois, "I have a confession as well, your highness. I desired Ciel's soul not because I preferred it to your own, but rather I no longer desired to eat your soul."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I did what no demon is supposed to do: I got attached to my contractee." Claude answered, "I thought if I ate Ciel's soul and killed you, my attachment would fade as well as bay my hunger."

Claude kissed Alois' head, "So yes, I am stuck with you, but being stuck with you isn't so bad."


	6. Memories

Narrator's POV

Ciel loved America, he realized what very quickly when he and Sebastian arrived in the late 1970's.

Not because of any notions of patriotism or the concepts of their freedoms, no, he loved America because it was s land of extremes.

Almost all of the Americans Ciel had met were extreme in a way or another, and that was absolutely delicious.

So often he found that those who claimed the most goodness had the darkest and most hateful souls, it was almost addicting, like sweets.

There were often times where he and Sebastian would simply be walking about whatever town they were currently in and he would just what to sample everyone around —even though that would be impossible—; America could almost be considered a demon's buffet.

But presently, riding in a taxi, Ciel stared out the window as the city of New York faded off as they began to head to some small town in Maine about six hours away.

***

Six hours and a nearly $200 taxi fare later, Ciel got out of the taxi and got onto the gravel path that lead to the house they were renting.

It was quaint, but suitable for the two demons for the time they would be there.

It was almost strange to the younger demon, to be back in countryside after being in the city for so long, if he closed his eye it was almost like he was back home.

Shaking that notion off, he went inside the sparsely furnished home while he waited for Sebastian to bring their things in.

So he took that time to explore and quickly found that the house was more of a cottage with one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen/dining room and a storage room.

Satisfied with the exploration, Ciel went into the living room where he found Sebastian unpacking the two suitcases and four medium-sized boxes that made up their belongings as all the places they rented were furnished.

Helping his mate, Ciel opened the smallest box and found exactly what he had been looking for: his Polaroid and their 12 photo albums.

He placed the albums on the coffee table and the Polaroid around his neck.

120 years of memories where contained in those albums, the latter 72 years captured by the very same Polaroid around his neck.

Sitting on the sofa, Ciel grabbed the one labeled "Volume II: 1910-1920" he flipped to the near end of the album and found the photo he was looking for.

It had cost a small fortune to get a color photograph in 1919, but it had been so very worth it —even though they had killed the photographer after the photo had been developed to protect themselves.

The photo itself had been at Sebastian's insistence and at the time Ciel had thought he was having a laugh at him but now he knew exactly why he had wanted the photo.

Sebastian has dressed in a suit very similar to the one he had worn as a butler, but he had dressed Ciel as very traditional bride from the heavy white dress, sheer veil and the damned corset.

Even though he had hated it at the time, their wedding photo was Ciel's favorite.

Though they were dressed like they were being married, and considered themselves wed, they were actually bonded —which was the demonic term for it— they had drunk the other's blood and swore themselves to the other for eternity.

They had 'married' in the same city they had begun their relationship, as cliche as it was, in Paris.

Under his gloves, Sebastian wore a plain silver band that they had exchanged with their blood that day, just as Ciel wore a silver ring that had a single large sapphire on it that was surrounded by two smaller gems: a ruby and an amethyst.

Ciel's favorite part of his ring was the two dates engraved in it: "16-1-1885" and "16-1-1919" with the words "The Days Our Forever Began".

Unfortunately though, Ciel rarely wore his ring in public, as homosexuality had only recently became legal in America and the fact that Americans were nosy and he was trapped in a thirteen year old body, someone might put two and two together and get the law involved.

***

Late that night, laying in bed with his head on Sebastian's chest, his left hand tracing random shapes on his bare stomach, their clothes having been tossed across the room during ether passion.

Ciel sighed, "Is this normal? Being tired of existence."

"It is, unfortunately, love, it's a phase that will pass when something interesting happens. This won't be the last time you feel like this, it happens throughout eternity." Sebastian answered, his arm around Ciel's waist

"Do you ever wish you could make other contracts?" Ciel asked, knowing Sebastian couldn't even if he gave him permission to because it was in their core contract for Ciel to be the only contractor during the duration of their eternal contract

"Occasionally," Sebastian answered, moving his free hand to cup Ciel's face, "But then I look at your eyes and like that I have you marked as mine."

Ciel softly smiled, "So territorial."

"But you are mine." Sebastian said, kissing him gently, "And I yours."

They briefly kissed before separating, Ciel still smiled and closed his eyes, listening to the beating of Sebastian's heart.

Sebastian laid there patiently until Ciel fell asleep before getting up and retrieving his clothes and redressing, knowing Ciel would want to bathe together when he woke.

Sebastian set about cleaning the cottage and tending to the lawn and garden.

The older demon then baked some cookies for Ciel to snack on later when he woke.

With his work done, Sebastian returned to the bedroom, undressed and slipped back in with his mate to wait for him to awake...


	7. New in Town

Narrator's POV

The next day, the pair of demons ventured into the small town, using the guise of grocery shopping to explore the town.

Since it was a small town, the grocery store was a short walk away from their house.

As they walked, Ciel spoke to Sebastian through their mating bond, "So, which cover story are we using here?"

"Up to you." Sebastian replied, taking Ciel's hand as they approached the store

Ciel thought for a moment, they had three cover stories they used when living among humans.

The first was that he and Sebastian were orphaned brothers with the latter his guardian.

The second was that Sebastian was his widowed father.

And the last was that Sebastian was his uncle that had taken him in after his parents died.

"Ok, daddy." Ciel said aloud, smirking

"Oh you're horrible." Sebastian muttered as he got a cart

***

Nancy Miller, a recently divorced councilwoman in Meadowspoint wandered the grocery store looking for meal ideas.

The thirty year old blonde woman had lived in Meadowspoint her entire life and knew everyone in the town of a hundred and fifty three people but as she entered the produce section she saw two people she had never seen before.

The first was a tall handsome man with wild yet neat black hair and piercing red eyes; he wore a dark cyan sweater that had a single white stripe across the chest and khakis as well as brown gloves.

Beside him was a short boy with possibly dyed navy blue hair and an eyepatch as well as a blue eye; he wore a white long-sleeved shirt that had pastel blue stripes with light-washed jeans and painted black nails.

The pair spoke softly to each other, having not noticed her as the older examined a tomato and the younger snuck a bag of candy into the cart.

Nancy pushed her cart past them, not saying anything as she continued shopping.

A while later Nancy was driving home when she saw the pair again walking with their grocery bags, the boy carrying only one while the man carried the rest of the reusable bags.

She slowed down, pulled up beside them and rolled down her window, "Do you two need a ride?"

The man looked at the boy first and then answered, "That would be nice."

She pulled over and unlocked her car, letting them into her minivan and asking for their address.

The man told her it and she began driving, learning that they lived just a few doors down from her.

"I'm Nancy, by the way, Nancy Miller." Nancy introduced

"I'm Sebastian Michaelis and this is my son, Ciel." Sebastian introduced

"Are you new in town?" Nancy asked

"Yes." Sebastian answered

Nancy looked into her rear view mirror, looking at the boy in the backseat alone with their groceries, "How old are you Ciel?"

"13 nearly 14." Ciel answered, clearly unhappy about something

"Oh, so you're an eighth grader. Do you plan on going to the middle school here?" Nancy asked, "My son goes there, he's two years younger than you but I'm sure you two would get along."

The one eyed boy glared at her, "I'm homeschooled."

Nancy gulped and pulled into their driveway, "Well we're here."

Sebastian thanked her and gathered their groceries as Ciel left the car and went inside.

***

Ciel plopped down on the couch and ripped open his bag of candy as Sebastian walked in.

Sebastian chuckled at the sight, "I'm surprised you didn't rip open her throat with how angry you were in there. The car ride was your idea after all."

"I am nearly a hundred and forty four years old and I'm still treated like an invalid! She and everyone else talk to you like an actual person and talk to me like I don't understands thing they say!" Ciel said, "I am sick and tired of it. I hate that I'm trapped as a 13 year old for-fucking-ever!"

Sebastian snapped the groceries into their places and hugged his mate, "It's unfortunate, yes, but there are ways around it, just not now that we've established our cover."

Ciel leaned against him, "Such as?"

"Next town, we could disguise you as a girl. You always look older after you've been dolled up." Sebastian answered

Ciel groaned at that, "I don't want to be a girl!"

"Then I don't know." Sebastian said, stroking his head, "Relax, love, I'll go make your lunch."

"No, I'm not in the mood for human food, just hold me." Ciel said, taking off his eyepatch and putting it in his pocket and sliding on his ring

***

A few hours later, Nancy walked down the street with her son, Tyler, and a apple pie.

Nancy knocked on the Michaelis' door and waited a few moments for the door to open to reveal Ciel.

"What do you want?" Ciel asked, the door only open enough to allow him to be seen and nothing else inside

"Is your father home?" Nancy asked

"He is." Ciel sighed before looking back towards the indoors, "Daddy!"

Barely a second passed before the door opened all the way to reveal Sebastian.

"Hello, Nancy, what a pleasant surprise." Sebastian said

"We just wanted to officially welcome you both to the neighborhood and brought you a pie." Nancy said

Sebastian thanked her and took the pie, Nancy caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a normal living room before the door was practically slammed in her face.

***

Inside the house, Sebastian took the pie he had been given and threw it right into the trash.

Ciel laughed at that, "Such a territorial mate I have, he doesn't even let me eat anything he didn't prepare."

Sebastian captured Ciel's lips with his own, "Says the one being terribly naughty."

Ciel kissed him, "Maybe I like keeping you in your toes, daddy."

Sebastian growled lowly and hoisted Ciel onto the counter, putting himself between the shorter's legs and kissing him as he pulled up his shirt...


	8. The Sharpshooter

Narrator's POV

Mey-Rin's life made a turn for the worse when the Young Master and Mr. Sebastian died.

Their deaths were mysterious to her, from what little she knew they had been in a horrible carriage accident that left they so horribly disfigured that their funerals had been closed-casket.

Unfortunately, Tanaka soon followed, having outlived two masters he died of old age.

After the death of the Young Master, the three remaining servants were employed by the Midfords to continue to tend to Phantomhive Manor.

The years trickled on and Bard was the next to go, succumbing to weakened lungs after years of smoking.

A year or two later, Finny had a horrible seizure that killed him.

Mey-Rin found herself all alone and in her depression, she had taken her own life with one of the rifles she once used to protect the estate.

She woke up a few moments later in the office of a man she would soon learn was named William T. Spears and learn that she had became a grim reaper due to the fact that she had taken her own life.

***

Now, in the autumn of 2019, Mey-Rin found herself the offices of Grim Reaper Dispatch heading towards the one that held her supervisor, William.

As she walked, she caught a glimpse of her reflection: gone were her hazel eyes, now green-yellow eyes took their place; her short maroon-red hair had grown long and wavy; long gone was the uniform she had worn as a maid, currently she wore a long-sleeved white blouse that had a black ribbon as a makeshift tie and a grey on grey plaid skirt that had matching suspenders along with black Mary-Janes; the only remnant other old life were her glasses, which were the very same ones she had received from the Young Master.

And in her hand, was her death scythe: a rifle with a bayonet.

Once she entered William's office, he informed her that the America Grim Reapers were currently short staffed due to a wild demon and she was being sent to help pick up on the work.

Transportation had been arranged and she soon found herself in New York City in their headquarters.

They sent her to where the wild demon had been last seen: in Maine.

***

Sitting on the sofa, Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis looked through the latest album in his and Sebastian's photo collection: "Volume 12: 2010-2020".

The page he was currently on was from 2018 when fidget-spinners were very popular and Sebastian thought they were incredibly stupid so obviously Ciel had gotten a sparkly purple one just to tick him off.

In retaliation, Sebastian had gotten the most hideous sunglasses Ciel had ever seen: they were large and circular with black frames but the lenses were a moving reflective rainbow of colors.

Afterwards, they agreed the other had the most stupid trend and had taken a selfie together to mark the moment, with him making the fidget-spinner float and spin with his powers and Sebastian pointing at it calling it idiotic.

Ciel smiled at the photo, seeing the inscription Sebastian had left on the little space by it, "I still think it's stupid."

Soon he reached the end of their collection, knowing they had enough pages to last until June of 2020 when they would move onto Volume 13.

Putting the album back where it belonged, Ciel got up and went back into their room, going into his accessories and found the locket that Sebastian had given him for his 100th birthday 43 years ago.

Inside of it, there were two photographs, one with him and Sebastian from the time he was human and one with him and Lizzy from the Campania before the attack.

The locket itself was just a silver locket with a cross-hatch design on the front with tiny diamonds and sapphires.

Suddenly, Ciel perked up when he sensed an unfamiliar demonic presence.

Using his powers, he summoned a demon dagger since Sebastian was out.

He quickly went to his phone and texted Sebastian.

Me: Hurry home, I sense a demon nearby.

The reply was instant.

🖤Seb♥️: I'm on my way. Get your dagger.

Me: I did. The presence is fading.

🖤Seb♥️: Don't let your guard down, I'm almost there.

Ciel heard the door unlock and saw Sebastian enter, demon sword in hand as he tried to pinpoint the other demonic presence.

Sebastian picked Ciel up and hoisted him onto his hip, he began to wander the woods behind ten house, following the scent the wild demon had left behind.

As they went deeper into the woods, the sensed another presence, though this time not demonic, no, it was a reaper.

Turning towards the presence, the pair saw a woman they never thought they'd see again: Mey-Rin...


	9. The Sinking Unsinkable

Narrator's POV

In 1912, in his room in the House of Insects, Alois Faustus hummed as he brushed his hair, putting in his hair extensions to give himself a hairstyle of the current trend: almost as if his hair were waves.

The butterfly demon then carefully put the wig on, making the seams almost disappear with a bit of magic so it looked real.

He then fixed the bit of eyeshadow that was messed up by the wig and looked at himself in the mirror: he looked like a girl, a young adult girl which was exactly what he was going for, or he would if his clothes didn't say otherwise.

He was dressed in a lavender shirt and black shorts.

There was a knock on his door, but the demon knew exactly who it was, only one demon ever visited him at his room in the House of Insects: his mate.

Ever since Claude had taught him everything he needed to know about being a demon, they had come to an agreement: they could seek out other contracts and deals if they wanted, but they'd visit each other at least once every month to check up.

Last month, Alois had visited Claude at the house of his latest contractor, some girl with revenge wish.

She had been so shocked to see him and had tried to kick him out of her house until Claude explained who he was.

Opening his door, Alois greeted Claude with a kiss, "Hey, babe."

Claude kissed back, "Hello, dearest."

"Complete that contract yet with what's-her-face?" Alois asked, pulling Claude into his room

"With Samantha? No, not yet but almost." Claude answered

Alois left him sitting on the bed as he rummaged trough a stack of magazines, "Do you think you'll finish it by the end of the month?"

"Probably. Why?" Claude asked, an eyebrow raised

Alois seemed to finally have found what he was looking for as he showed Claude a flyer for a vacation for a cruise.

"Because, if you're done by March then we can get ready by April 10th." Alois said, "I really want to go on this cruise, apparently the ship is supposed to unsinkable."

Claude smiled and kissed him, "I will endeavor to finish quickly and we can go."

"Yay!" Alois cheered, "When is she expecting you to return?"

Claude glanced down at his watch, "An hour or so."

"Good, I'm not done with you yet." Alois said, pushing him so he was laying down on he hammock

Alois straddled him as he chuckled, "I hope not."

Their clothes were quickly discarded.

***

A few weeks later, Alois found himself boarding the Titanic, holding onto Claude's arm as they disguised themselves as Dr. and Mrs. Faustus.

Alois wore a cream dress of the current trend with mustard gloves that went all the way up hid arm and a mustard headband that had a green feather on it.

A steward escorted them and their luggage towards their first class room on the top floor, which they got to by elevator.

Even though he had seen it before, the mere elevator fascinated Alois immensely: a moving floor was amazing to him.

Soon enough, the steward gave Claude the key to their room and they went in.

Their room wasn't a suite by any means, but they were still traveling First Class and it was plenty of Space for the two of them.

The bed was against the left wall, there was a chair against the back right corner with a small table and there was a table with two chairs in the center if the room.

***

Four days later, in the afternoon of April 14, Alois and Claude were walking around the First Class part of the boat, watching the ocean —the younger demon pointing out every creature he saw in the ocean.

But, the elder demon noticed something as well, the amount of large chunks of ice in the water.

Not thinking much of it at the time, they continued their walk in the crisp cold air.

Around 11:40pm, there was a horrible scraping sound heard throughout the ship, easily waking the demons who had sensitive ears,

The pair quickly went to investigate when they learned the ship had come into contact with an iceberg.

Immediately, many people began to head to the life boats while others laughed and simply said that the Titanic was unsinkable.

For tho use who heard to the lifeboats, there is a silent realization: there are 20 lifeboats that can hold 65 people.

There are over 2000 passengers and crew: at most 1300 people can fit.

The crew there decided that women and children are priority and will be allowed on the lifeboats first.

"Claude, I'm not leaving without you." Alois says

Claude kisses his forehead, "Go, I'll be fine. Go to New York and I'll find you there just stay around the Port."

Claude then spoke through their mating bond, "When the ship starts to sink I'll just wait, grab our things and swim to New York."

"Be safe." Alois nodded, before adding in their bond, "And don't get lost."

"I will." Claude comforted, then replying in their bond, "I won't get lost, it's a straight path."

Alois got onto the life boat with the women and children, getting lowered down around Midnight once it was about 3/4 of the way full.

***

Hours later, around 4 in the morning, Alois' life boat was rescued by another ship and they were taken to New York.

***

Back on the ship, Claude went back to his and Alois's room and used his belts to tie their suitcases to his legs, waiting for the ship to sink and fill with water so he could swim off with no human distractions.

Once his room was completely filled with water, Claude knew it was time, he began to swim through the First Class hallways until he found a balcony and began to swim towards the surface of the water.

Once their, he began to make the swim towards New York.

Nearly six days later, Alois sees Claude swimming towards a dock and hurried to greet him.

Claude, completely soaking wet untied the suitcases from his ankles and placed them beside him.

Using a bit of magic, he dries off himself and their belongings.

Claude then places an arm around Alois' waist, "That was one hell of a swim."

Alois softly laughed as they went to the hotel Alois had been staying at...


	10. Mistakes

Narrator's POV

Mey-Rin stared at the two demons in shock: that couldn't be them, they died in 1889.

Meanwhile, Ciel and Sebastian thought similarly: they had left the Phantomhive servants at the Manor over a century ago, How was she here in Maine of all places.

"Have you two been stealing souls and killing reapers?" Mey-Rin asked them

"No." Sebastian answered, "I suppose we're hunting the same prey then."

Just then, a rustle came from the trees nearby: revealing the wild demon at last.

In his arms were jars containing stolen souls: most green and purple with a few blues, so all of them were high quality.

Mey-Rin immediately pulled out her death scythe and began firing at him, knowing the bullets would only slow him down.

It worked and she began to slash at him with her bayonet as he started playing attempted escape.

The demon ran right into Sebastian and Ciel as she continued to slash at him, accidentally getting Ciel in the process and revealing his cinematic moments for just a few seconds.

***

The year was 1899 and twenty-four year old demon Ciel Phantomhive found himself in a fancy hotel in the heart of Paris.

The demon laid in bed on the cold winter night, simply staring at the covered top of the bed.

As a demon, Ciel knew he didn't truly need to sleep but could, but on this cool January night he simply couldn't.

It had been ten years since he had been turned into a demon and his life had only gotten worse.

After the initial optimism of it, the reality had come crashing down on him: he had lost Sebastian forever.

He could still remember the moment Sebastian had dove after him when Hannah had carried him into the water, the moment Sebastian had seen his red eyes and immediately tried to kill him and salvage his soul.

And ever since, Sebastian had just been a shell of himself, only doing the barest requirements and only doing anything else when ordered to.

Ciel supposed he should have expected it, Sebastian's only desire had been his soul and it was lost to him forever; but a small part of Ciel had hoped that Sebastian would have taken him under his wing and taught him how to be a demon.

But he hadn't and Ciel knew so little about how to function as a demon beyond feeding on the souls Sebastian scavenged and how to run faster than a human could see.

In the corner of his right eye, Ciel watched Sebastian as he leaned against the wall and stared at the clock.

Sighing, Ciel spoke for the first time in hours, "Sebastian, draw a bath."

Wordlessly, Sebastian went into the en suite bathroom and prepared it.

Ciel stood and began to walk to the bathroom, telling Sebastian he wanted to bathe himself.

Sebastian simply nodded as a response and left, closing the door.

Once alone, Ciel removed his nightshirt and boxers and the blade he had hidden in it.

Holding the blade, he sat in the tub and began to softly cry, letting all of his suppressed sadness free: his parents were gone and with them all the love they had given; his home burned to the ground; his aunt, driven mad and put down because of him; Lizzy and all her sweetness was gone too, he had never been attracted to women or even saw what men saw appealing in them, having always finding men more attractive but perhaps through love and children he could have learned to love her romantically; his human life gone and a new demonic one had been forced upon him; and most horribly of all, his Sebastian, the sole constant in his life, was lost to him as well just as Ciel had begun to feel more than just a business relationship with him when he was human.

As tears streamed down his face for the first time in thirteen years, he began to take the blade to his wrist and up the vein to his elbow.

He knew it probably wouldn't kill him, he had seen Sebastian take dozens of bullets with barely a flinch before, but he didn't care, he wished he knew how to end his own life, Sebastian would probably be glad to be rid of him.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was folding Ciel's laundry when the smell of salt entered his sensitive nose, soon followed by a metallic smell that he recognized a blood.

Dropping the clothing in his hands, Sebastian went to go see what was wrong when he saw Ciel hacking at his own arm and crying.

And in the moment, Sebastian realized something that would permanently change his life: he was the cause of Ciel's suffering.

By being nothing but distant and cold, he had driven his young master to depression and attempted suicide when he should have taken on the role of mentor and taught him.

Taking the knife from the younger demon, he picked him up and wrapped his arm in bandages and then his small body in a towel.

He carried him to bed and finished drying him off and dressing him in fresh nightclothes.

Ciel simply sat on the edge of the bed as Sebastian tended to him, not saying anything to the older demon.

Sebastian kneeled on the floor in front of him and gently maneuvered Ciel's head until he was looking at him, "I'm terribly sorry for the pain I have caused you, Young Master. I have been unjustly cold towards you and that will end now, I have been acting very childish and I will end such behavior immediately. I have been blaming you for an action you had no say over, Alois and Hannah made the deal, not you, and I have blamed you for the loss of your soul. I was just so...desperate to regain custody of your soul I neglected to see anything else besides the fact it had been stolen from me, I didn't even let myself realize why I was so frantic for it. I was so blinded by the bitter loss of losing it for good that I didn't realize the hidden gift in it: that I no longer had to eat your soul. I lost interest in eating your soul long ago, I became much more interested in our game of realizing your revenge simply because it would bring you joy and I never let myself acknowledge that until just a few moments ago, realize that I care deeply for you."

Ciel began to tear up at his words, "You're lying, you don't care."

Sebastian held Ciel's bandaged hands within his own gloved ones, "I cannot lie, my lord."

Ciel's eyes lit up with relief and joy, and in the moment he got up and hugged Sebastian.

And much to Ciel's surprise, he hugged back.

After a minute or two, they separated and Sebastian began to motion Ciel back to the bed, "It is very late, Young Master, you should get to bed."

Ciel sat back on the bed, "Sebastian?"

"Yes, my lord?" Sebastian asked

"Please just call me 'Ciel' from now on. I don't want you to be my butler anymore, if much rather you'd be my mentor...and possibly more." Ciel said with a light blush

Sebastian smiled, "Of course, Ciel, I would like that very much."...


	11. Welcome to Hell

Narrator's POV

Ciel blinked rapidly as he freed himself from the viewings of his past, his cinematic disappearing back into his body.

After he came to, the cat demon realized he had been set down onto a fallen log as Mey-Rin and Sebastian fought the wild demon.

Soon enough, the fight was won by the demon and reaper with the wild demon bound by magic.

Ciel walked up to him, "Where were you taking the stolen souls?"

"Where do you think? To Hell." The wild demon spat

That puzzled Ciel, the nearest portal to Hell was in Roanoke, Virginia and that was over 800 miles in the opposite direction of where the demon had been heading.

"Why are you in Maine?" Ciel asked

The demon didn't answer until Sebastian put his demon blade to the wild demon's neck, "There's a temporary portal here, my employer set it up to take me back to Hell. It'll disappear by midnight."

Ciel glanced at his watch, it was 7:34.

"Who is your employer?"

The demon gulped, "The Prince of Pride."

Ciel wickedly smiled as an idea entered his mind, "Lead is to the portal."

The demon led them a few miles away to wear the portal was, the surrounding flora dead and withered.

Once the portal was found, Sebastian killed the demon and left the body to crumple.

"Your demon problem is gone, Mey-Rin, and you can have the souls he was transporting." Ciel said to his former maid, looking back to her from the portal

Ciel and Sebastian then entered the portal and found themselves in the Hall of Portals in Hell.

***

Ciel had been to Hell only twice before, and both times only briefly, never leaving the Hall of Portals.

The first had been shortly after he had become a demon and had been just to get to Asia quickly.

The second had been in the 1970's when he and Sebastian had gone to America without the trouble of getting on an airplane or boat.

The Hall was nearly empty as usual, with the others there entering and exiting one of the six continental portals.

The couple made their way towards the exit as Ciel explained his idea to Sebastian through their bond.

"The Prince of Pride is the mastermind behind all the reaper killings going on. If we infiltrate the Prince's castle we can kill him and be done with it." Ciel said, "And then I'll be the new Prince."

"Are you sure that's a smart idea? Going against a Prince is a near impossible task. We don't know if the other princes are involved; fighting one prince is hard but multiple is suicide." Sebastian warned, "Besides, you're not obligated to do this, we can easily turn around and ignore this."

"I'm sure I want to do this, Seb." Ciel replied, "There's something I haven't told you. I've been drawn to hell for months, but I've been trying to ignore it. Also, for the past few months I've had the same dream every night and it never changes. I'm always walking into a throne room towards an empty throne that only has a crown on it. And then I sit on the throne and put on the crown and flames spring up around me. This started shortly before we heard about the reaper killings, this is a sign, I'm supposed to be a Prince."

Sebastian nodded, "I see. I think I know something that might help us then, but first we need to go to the House of Birds, I think it's still in my room there."

***

A while later, the pair were walking towards the House of Birds, passing all sorts of demons on their way: some in their human forms, some in true forms, and others in animal and plant forms.

The House of Birds could only loosely be called a house, it was more like a crumbling, crooked tower of grey and black stone.

Sebastian hurried them inside and passed bird demons of all varieties lounging about.

They then went up a large spiraling staircase to the top floor to the bedroom in the farthest end of the impossible hallway.

Before he opened the door to the room labeled "Raven", Sebastian looked to Ciel, "I will warn you my room isn't very...organized. It's also probably very dusty seeing that I haven't been here in well over three hundred years."

Ciel nodded and Sebastian opened the door, revealing the small room that had been Sebastian's home before they had ever met, before the younger had even been born.

Ciel took it in, seeing a table cluttered in scrolls and a plague doctor mask; there were clothes on the floor and on chairs; and there were black feathers all over the room.

The cat demon chuckled at that, in the time he had known Sebastian he always thought that he was a very clean and organized person but it seemed that the opposite was true and he had been too much of one Hell of a butler to let anyone find out.

But, most shockingly was the hammock that was Sebastian's bed, clearly made to let his wings free if he wished to sleep with them revealed, but that wasn't what Ciel was looking at, no it was the woman sleeping in his bed.

The sight of her made Ciel's mind race: was Sebastian cheating on him? Had he been using him to cheat on someone else? Was he not satisfying enough to his mate and he had turned to another to find his pleasure? Did Sebastian even love him?

Sensing Ciel's confusion, Sebastian explained, "Ut seems I have forgotten a promise I once made. It's dangerous for most demons to fall asleep as it becomes impossible to wake up without someone to wake you. I promised her I'd wake her up after I finished a contract I finished a hundred years before ours began; it seems I forgot."

"Who is she?" Ciel asked

"She's my sister." Sebastian explained...


	12. The Plan

Narrator's POV

"You said you had no siblings." Ciel said, remembering Sebastian's story about his human life

"I don't have any biological siblings, she's my sire sister, we were turned by the same demon." Sebastian explained, "She's Belladonna, a Sloth demon and my opposite in almost every way."

Sebastian then moved to wake her, shaking her a few times before a loud yawning could be heard.

"Raven, ug, back already? How long was that contract of yours?" Belladonna tiredly asked, rubbing her eyes

"It's been about 300 years." Sebastian answered

That instantly woke her up, "WHAT THE HELL, RAVEN?"

"I can explain, Bella." Sebastian began, getting cut off

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU EXPLAIN AWAY 300 YEARS? I'M FUCKING STARVING TO DEATH! I TOLD YOU TO WAKE ME UP AFTER YOUR CONTRACT, NOT AFTER 30 OF THEM!" Bella yelled, her silver eyes going red then magenta

Sebastian nodded, "And I'm terribly sorry about that, but I can explain. After that contact I was immediately called to another so I told Carrot to come wake you but it seems he failed to do so."

Belladonna calmed a bit and asked Sebastian what had happened to him and the world as whole in the time she'd been asleep.

Sebastian spent an hour exposing what had happened and a bit explaining the current fashion trends as she would need to magic herself some new clothes.

By the end of it, Belladonna's black hair was down now with a grey ombré to it, she had slight makeup on, she had a silver nose-ring, she now wore a black hat, a black and silver collar, a black tank top that had silver dots along the sleeves and neck as well as the torso to make an hourglass shape, grey jeans and black boots.

Also, her tattoos on her arm which showed she belonged to the Botanical Garden, the Flower Demon's House.

After her quick change, she walked up to Ciel, "So, Cat, you're stuck with this lump for eternity, huh?"

Ciel grinned slightly when she had gestured to Sebastian and called him a 'lump', "It seems so. I'd prefer it if you called me Ciel."

"Ok, Ciel, then please call me Bella." Bella smiled

While Bella and Ciel talked, Sebastian looked for what they had came for, eventually finding it on a shelf.

He then brought it to Ciel.

"Demon Hound Venom?" Ciel questioned

"I believe it will help us get into the Prince's Palace, and it should go much smoother with Bella's help." Sebastian explained, "Its no secret that the current Prince is fond of drink and spends lots of time in the bar down here. Bella can seduce him for you and slip it into his drink and fill his senses enough to let you kill him."

"I'll help, but first I need something to eat." Bella said

"We'll get you something in the bar." Sebastian said, leading the way out to the bar

***

Ciel honestly didn't know what to expect from a demon bar, from what Sebastian had said he knew it served alcohol and souls but Ciel didn't see how it benefitted the bartender/owner.

Surely the souls and liquor had difficult to get, especially the former, so why give it away for stories?

But it mattered not, Ciel supposed, 'The Gates of Hell' had been there for thousands of years and it was likely to be there for thousands more.

The bar was appropriately named, seeing that it was just a few thousand feet from the Hall of Portals.

The trio then entered the bar, the female demon sitting directly a the bar while the other two went to a table to observe.

While they waited, Ciel noticed the decor of the packed bar, how gothic Victorian it was with its grey stone archways and gargoyles.

And it was then when Ciel caught glimpse of the demon known only as Tender.

According to Sebastian, no one knew much about Tender from his age or demon type.

It was common speculation that Tender might be one of the Ancient Ones, one of the angels that had rebelled against God and had fallen with King Lucifer.

But, no one knew for sure and so Ciel didn't know if he was seeing a fallen angel or an eccentric demon currently serving drinks and listening to tales as prepayment.

And luckily, it seemed like they didn't need to wait for the Prince to arrive as he was already here and seemed to be quite a few shots in if the glasses in front of him were anything to go by.

So Ciel watched as Bella ordered two drinks and a soul from Tender, giving a story as her prepayment.

Once she had her items, she quickly ate the soul and poured about half the vial into one glass before putting the rest in her pocket and walking over and sitting beside the Prince of Pride.

The Prince looked at her immediately, clearly intoxicated —which was almost impossible for a demon to achieve— and seemingly please by the sight of a beautiful woman.

It was also apparent that Bella knew this too and offered him the poisoned drink, which he drank with no hesitation.

Ciel knew it was his moment and stood up and walked towards the bar, summoning his demon dagger and shoving it right into the Prince's back, making him fall to the floor in pain as he bled out.

The demons around him began to cackle and laugh at the sight, knowing the Prince's days had been numbered anyways with how sloppy he'd been getting.

It didn't take long for the Prince to die, his body disappearing and leaving the crown Ciel had seen in his dreams behind.

Ciel then bent over and grabbed it, putting it on his head.

The cat demon gasped as he felt its power flow through his veins.

In that moment Ciel felt the familiar rush of changing forms, realizing he was gaining a fourth form.

In his new Princely form, Ciel wore a long, black coat that had the lapels up and was ripped into dozens of strips in the bottom; similarly colored vest; a white dress shirt; black shorts; black leather boots that almost to his knees; black, sheer stockings; black, finger-less gloves that almost went to his elbow; he wore no eyepatch, leaving his lavender eye free.

The new Prince of Pride glanced around the bar, knowing all eyes were on him and his next move would determine Hell's reaction of him.

So, Ciel sat on the stood once occupied by the old Prince and looked to Tender, "I think I'll have a drink, I've got one Hell of a story."

Around him, the bar burst into laughs...


	13. Reunited

Narrator's POV

Ciel didn't remember what he had done at the bar nor did he remember the trip to Pride Castle, all he knew was it had been a week since he had become Prince and so far very little had happened.

Currently, he was sitting on his gold and black throne with Sebastian standing beside him, thinking of what to do now.

It was strange to the cat demon how he felt at the moment, the only way he could describe it was...peaceful.

He had found his purpose in life, he found fulfillment in a way he had never found in before either his human or demonic life.

And he had found it in the place where human souls were sent to die.

"Wait a minute." Ciel thought, "The souls of human sinners are sent to Hell to die. That would mean they're here."

Ciel knew as a Prince he would need to gather a inner circle just as he had as the Queen's Watchdog, and if his suspicion was true, he could gather the same exact circle with some new additions.

Ciel also knew Sebastian was a wrath demon, which would mean he would have had to serve time —around 150 years— in the Fields of Punishment with the Tortured Souls doling out said punishment.

So, that would mean that Sebastian was familiar with the Fields and would know his way around.

Additionally, Ciel had learned that Bella was a potion master, which wrapped up his plan nicely.

There were three ways to become a demon: being turned by one of the few demons that had the rare ability —like Wolf and Hannah—; being born a demon; or drinking the potion made by a demon potion master.

By demonic standards, Ciel was considered a toddler at 243 years old, Sebastian a young adult at nearly 1,200, and Bella a teenager at 976; so he needed to gather and bind a few older demons in his circle, preferably even older than Sebastian.

But, first, he wanted to gather a few familiar faces.

Standing, he mentally told Sebastian his plan through their bond, he then told Bella to prepare a few potions and he and his mate made their way to the Fields.

***

When they arrived, Sebastian briefly explained how the Fields worked, how the sinners were organized by their biggest sin so they could be punished accordingly.

First, in the deserts that held Gluttony, they found Lau.

Lau's major sin was the excess of drugs he indulged in, now he was tormented by being held cold turkey from opium and being forced to watch demons use it with no relief.

Stepping into Lau's cell, the Asian man looked at the demons and looked confused, "Lord Phantomhive?"

"Hello, old friend." Ciel greeted, "I've come to make you a deal."

"What deal?" Lau asked

"Simple: you swear and pledge your eternal loyalty to me and I'll free you from your prison and you'll become a demon." Ciel explained

"Deal." Lau agreed

The now trio went to Lust and found Ran-Mao, who also agreed to join.

Next, they went to Envy were they found Madam Red.

Ciel went into her cell alone, "Hello, Aunt An."

"Ciel, is it really you?" She asked

"It is." Ciel said, then explaining the deal to her as well to which she agreed

After the five were reunited, Ciel told Sebastian to take them to Pride Palace and see if Bella had finished the potions.

Once he was alone, Ciel than walked over to Greed and found the cell he was looking for, putting his hand on the door-handle but neglecting to open the door, unsure if he should open it.

His eyes never left the name on the cell door, refusing to leave and also refusing to open the door.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and went in, seeing the man within exactly how he remembered him.

Vincent Phantomhive never turned to look at the door, just sitting on the floor of his cell, staring at the floor.

Ciel honestly didn't know if his father even knew he was here, it took 300 years for a soul to die and 200 years to loose their sanity; Vincent had been dead and been tortured for 133 years.

"Hey, Dad." Ciel started, not even sure what to say, "Mum's in heaven, if you wanted to know, she's at peace, she's not suffering."

Ciel kneeled in front of him, "Dad, can you hear me?"

The demon sighed when he got no reply, not even a glance in his direction, he began to stand when he was pulled into a deep embrace.

The human soul sobbed against his son, "I'm so sorry, Ciel, she betrayed us, I didn't think she'd target you and your mother, I thought she only wanted me."

"It's ok, Dad, everything turned out okay for me in the end." Ciel said, hugging back, "I got my revenge, I killed her. I was turned into a demon and now I'm a Prince of Hell. If you let me and join me, I'll turn you into a demon too."

Vincent nodded and held his son close, "You've grown so much, physically and mentally, you're more than I could've ever hoped."

The father and son pair stood up and they went to Pride Palace...


	14. Demon 101

Narrator's POV

When they arrived, Bella was stirring a bubbling cauldron, "Oh, you're back finally, Raven was starting to think you got lost."

Ciel gave her a small smile, "Where is he...and the others?"

"He's taken them down the hall to a sitting room to wait. You need to set up a proper potions room, I've had to improvise." Bella answered

"How much longer until the potion is done?"

"About two more minutes."

Sebastian entered the room, "Everything's set up for the binding, love."

Ciel immediately noticed the dirty look Sebastian was giving Vincent.

"Sebastian, take my father to the others, I think he has someone he'd like to catch-up with." Ciel asked, giving his mate a look that said get back ASAP

Sebastian did as asked and as soon as he was out of earshot Bella tsked, "Wrath Demons are so territorial, they want to be the only one in your life. I dated one, he was so needy, that's why I was asleep in Raven's room, I was trying to get away from my ex, he's scared of Raven, wouldn't dare go near his room."

Ciel raised an eyebrow, "So what should I do about it?"

"There's really nothing you can do, he's gonna be jealous of anyone you get close to, it's in his nature especially since he's your mate. He's just gonna have to deal with it." Bella advised, "Anyways, the potion is ready."

Ciel nodded and went to find his Inner Circle.

When he arrived, he saw the four human souls sitting in a circle above chalked runes and Sebastian holding a demon blade.

The older demon had him extended his left hand, he then cut his palm and did the same to the humans.

He told them to recite, "I pledge myself to the current Prince of Pride, Cat, Ciel Phantomhive."

They did as instructed and Ciel presses his palm against theirs one at a time until all four were bound to him.

Then Bella came in with four bowls of what looked like tar.

She told all of them to drink it.

Vincent went first, his nails gaining the signature black color as his clothes changed to a black fishnet shirt and a black leather vest, his pants turned into a black leather and he gained the signature black heels all demons had.

Finally, black wings sprouted from his back and his nails grew into claws.

Vincent Phantomhive was now Vulture, a Demon of Greed.

Next was Madam Red: her ruby stud earrings changed shape to be ruby roses; a flower crown of red roses appeared on her head; her red skirt turned into a black lacy miniskirt that was so thick it was no longer sheer; her shirt became a crimson velvet crop-top and she gained a black leather jacket that was embroidered with red roses.

And, of course, her long, red painted nails flaked off their paint and turned black.

Angelina Dalles was now Rose, a Demon of Envy.

Next was Lau: his nails gained the signature black color; his white silk pants turned black, his blue Changshan turned into a black silk shirt embroidered with red poppies; and his shoes changed to the demon heels.

Before he knew it Lau was Poppy, a Demon of Gluttony —though it was quickly evident that he would use the name Opium as the drug was derived from that flower.

Ran-Mao was last, her nails growing long and black, her lavender silk Cheongsam changed to black silk dress of the same length, her black stockings didn't change nor did the style of her hair but the golden tassels turned silver.

Her shoes changed to the classic black leather heeled boots and her dress had pink peonies embroidered on it.

Ran-Mao was now Peony, a Demon of Lust.

***

After a few minutes of regaining their senses passed, Ciel knew it was time to give the four brand-new demons a briefing on the basics of demonic life.

So, Bella took Ran-Mao and Lau, Sebastian took Madam Red and Ciel took his father to different rooms to begin the explanations.

All the explanations were basically the same, but demons naturally learned on a one-on-one basis with their sire or parent, but they're were neither here so they had to be even more through.

Ciel also knew that he needed to keep his father and his mate separated for a bit to give Sebastian time to adjust; Bella was right, Sebastian had gotten used to being the only one in his life for nearly a century and a half and now he suddenly had to share him with multiple people.

Nevertheless, the cat demon began to tell the vulture one about the history of demons, how their species had been created by King Lucifer to show God that humans were easily corrupted and not worthy of his love, their creation had gotten Lucifer banished from Heaven with those who supported him.

Those fallen angels then created Hell to mirror the Heaven they had lost and continued to create more demons and seven princes of sin.

When God discovered what the fallen ones were doing, he created a unopenable cage in the center of Hell and picked Lucifer inside of it.

The rest of the fallen ones saw through the rest to their orders and then fell asleep around the corners of Earth and Hell, awaiting Lucifer's return —there was a rumor that one was still awake, but it was not proven.

Demons had grown powerful since then and their numbers reaching a screeching halt at 10,000 with not even one more.

Ciel them explained the powers every demon shared and then the rare abilities he could have, he also explained how to shift between his forms.

Then, he explained what the grand majority of demons did with their lives: deals and contracts.

"The difference between deals and contracts are small, but they're very important. Deals are quick, they rarely last more than a day, you just are summoned, complete their simple wish and are done immediately. Contracts though, they take time and their souls taste so much better because of it, their wishes are more complex and it effects their flavor. Because they're so cut and dry, deals don't really need any lines or rules, it's basically fast food. Contracts though are marked with an identical seal on both the contractor and contractee on their bodies, the more obvious the mark the stronger the contract." Ciel explained, removing his eyepatch to show Sebastian and his' contract seal, "Every demon has a one-of-a-kind seal that marks their contractor as theirs to other demons so their meal is not taken. It's an ancient evolutionary thing, most demons work for their meals now, soul stealing is rare."

Vincent nodded, showing his understanding and prompting Ciel to continue.

Once he was finished explaining what it was like to be a demon, he then started to tell his father the rundown of what had happened since he had died —leaving certain things out like the ten year period after he first become a demon and his more intimate secrets that only Sebastian knew.

When Ciel said that Sebastian was his mate, he worried about his father's reaction: while demons generally didn't care about the gender of their romantic partners, the Victorian Era had been very homophobic and he was worried his father would be upset with him.

Vincent seemed to sense his worry and smiled comfortingly, "Your mother was the love of my life, but she wasn't my first love: Diedrich was."

That settled Ciel instantly, his father was bisexual like 95% of all demons —1% are asexual, 1% are straight, 2% are gay, and 1% other.

Ciel smiled slightly, "Do you have any questions?"

"Does Sebastian treat you like the treasure you are?" Vincent asked

"He does."

"Then I have no issues with him."

"Any more questions?"

"Yes, I am kinda hungry, how do we know if we're being summoned?"

"It's like a mass ringing in all of our heads, slow rings for a contract, quick ones for a deal; occasionally only certain demons are summoned for deals that fit them perfectly, but generally everyone is called and it's just whoever gets there first."

"I think I'm being summoned."

"Focus on it and it'll take you there."

Vincent began to disappear and Ciel grabbed his hand, being taken with him.

When they materialized in the shadows of the room, they examined who had called them.

Ciel immediately gasped and his heart stopped: it was a cult...


	15. Safe and Sound

Narrator's POV

Ciel froze as he and Vincent watched the chanting cult that was speaking in broken Latin trying to summon a demon.

The twenty or so cultists were all dressed in maroon hooded robes and all wore black masks, but what Ciel was focused upon was the bleeding corpse of a little girl who could be no older than five years old.

Vincent simply watched in confusion as Ciel screamed and threw up a colorless vomit, the last of the clear fluid running down his chin.

Ciel's father was absolutely clueless about to help his twitching son.

Ciel meanwhile, his brain wasn't registering the world around him, in his mind he wasn't the one hundred and forty four year old Prince of Pride, he was the ten year old boy who just became an orphan and just watched the friend he had made in his month of captivity get murdered.

Vincent tried to comfort him, placing a hand on his shoulder and went to tell him that he was here for him but Ciel pushed him away, his demon strength literally making he go several feet away.

Ciel collapsed to the floor and began to rock as memories of that day flooded his brain and vision.

***

Back in Hell, Sebastian was speaking with Madam Red about demonology when he felt a stinging of pain through the contact bond and a surge of panic before a complete shut off from the mate bond.

He used the only open bond to track Ciel's location discovered he was on Earth, so he simply said he had to go and tugged on the string in his mind that would take him to the most recent summoning.

Instantly, he found himself in what seemed to be an abandoned church in the middle of the woods that was now home to a cult,

He looked into the shadows of the room and found Ciel rocking and panicking and Vincent trying to help.

Having dealt with Ciel's PTSD episodes twice before —once while Ciel was human and once after he became a demon— he followed the same thing he did every time.

First, he helped Ciel stand and wiped the sick from his face, using his thumb to stroke his bottom lip while his left hand untied his eyepatch, "You are outside of the cage, Ciel."

Sebastian then picked his mate up and held him close, feeling Ciel's short, panicked breaths become longer and deeper as he realized that he was safe.

He stood still as Ciel relaxed in his hold, burying his face in the crook of his neck.

Ciel slowly came out from the episode, but he wasn't fully back yet, simply breathing in Sebastian's familiar scent Of cinnamon and pine, "Kill them."

"Of course." Sebastian replied, kissing the top of Ciel's head as he went to kill the cultists

It didn't take long to kill the humans, they didn't even notice him until the first one had his fist through her torso.

He killed most of them within the following thirty seconds, a few tried to run but he effortlessly caught up to them and killed them as well.

Soon just the three demons remained surrounded by twenty one corpses of the cultists and the lamb.

They then returned back to Pride Palace.

***

The three then went up to the top floor and into the Master bedroom, where Sebastian placed Ciel down in bed and magically changed his clothes into a clean nightshirt.

Ciel immediately went under the covers and fell asleep, mentally and emotionally drained.

The other two left the room silently, letting him recuperate from the stressful situation.

Vincent leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor and he realized how helpless he had been in the situation: his son had been hurt and he had no idea how to help him.

The new demon looked up to the other, "What happened."

"Ciel has Post Traumatic Stress caused by the month he spent in captivity by the hands of a cult he was sold to following your death. Seeing that cult sacrifice that child put his mentality back into the moment he saw the cult he was trapped by sacrifice another child I believe he had befriended. I don't know the full story, he's never told me, I only know what I was there for and what I have inferenced based on facts and his reactions during his episodes. It takes a sacrifice of something you care about and complete desperation to summon a demon: I wasn't summoned until after the lamb was sacrificed." Sebastian explained, "He'll be out of it for a few hours but he'll be better by morning, maybe late tonight."

Vincent began to open his mouth to speak but was interrupted when Ciel's voice cried out for Sebastian to help him.

The requested demon immediately went into the room without given Vincent a second glance.

***

Sebastian swiftly yet softly closed the door behind him, trying to minimize the amount of light that entered the room as to not bother Ciel.

"You called for me, love?" Sebastian asked, seeing Cidl still under the covers

He walked over to the bed and removed the covers slightly to reveal Ciel's face, the demon's night vision letting him see all the twitching Ciel was still doing.

"Their hands, they're all over me, I can feel them." Ciel shakily said

Sebastian stroked his hair, "I'll draw a bath, how does that sound?"

Ciel didn't reply, he just nodded his head and his back under the covers.

It took barely a few minutes for Sebastian to draw a bath at a perfect temperature and he soon returned with Ciel in tow.

He stripped his mate and gently set him into the warm water.

"Bathe with me." Ciel requested, wanting to be in the familiar safety of Sebastian's arms

Sebastian quickly stripped and went in as well, placing Ciel on his lap and put his arms around him.

Ciel wrapped his legs around Sebastian's waist and cuddled against his muscular chest, "I love you, Sebastian."

Sebastian kissed Ciel's forehead, "I love you too, kitten."

They rarely exchanged those words, it just wasn't something they did, they usually expressed their love to each other through actions and nicknames, but in those quiet moments they said those words, it was when they needed to hear it the most.

"Do you think my father's upset with me?" Ciel softly asked

"No, he's just a bit shocked, you gave him quite a fright." Sebastian answered, massaging Ciel's shoulders

***

Since he had been left alone, Vincent walked down the hallways, not remembering the way around, looking for one of the others he opened every door until he found a sitting room holding thirteen tall and thick books on the table.

Vincent sat down in front of them and grabbed the closest one that was labeled "Volume One: 1900-1910".

He flipped to a random page about a few dozen pages in when he landed on a page with a small picture.

It was Ciel and Sebastian both looking into the same book.

The picture was a bit blurry and it was impossible to read the words, but the photo itself was labeled "Ciel Learning Latin. 15/3/1902".

He continued to look through the pages, reading and glancing at all the memories eventually finishing the first album.

He then went to the second album and found another photo he really liked. It was dated "9/6/1912" and it said that they were seeing the play "A Midsummer's Night Dream".

In the picture, they seemed to be sitting on a picnic blanket in a field with Sebastian laying his head on Ciel's lap and Ciel seemed to be wearing a dress.

Ciel was laughing at something while braiding small flowers into Sebastian's hair.

Ciel looked so happy, Vincent hadn't seen him that happy since he was a little boy, before he had gotten sickly.

Next was a wedding photo with Ciel being the bride.

He didn't find anything out of the ordinary for five more albums until he arrived to the one labeled "Volume Seven: 1960-1970".

Midway through the book, the photo gave Vincent quite a chuckle, it was labeled "Ciel Learning to Swim" with a little note in a different —presumably Ciel's— handwriting say "I CAN swim, it was just a refresher."

The next few photos he liked for no particular reason, just because they seemed pretty.

It was just them on a walk and then looking out of a balcony.

The next phot he really liked was a bit strange: it was Ciel kissing a raven's beak.

He just learned all demons had an animal/plant form, so he assumed the raven was Sebastian.

The next few were just silly, but it was still very interesting to  
Vincent; it was like getting glimpses into all the things he had missed in Ciel's life.

The final one he found that he liked though, was the 100th Wedding Anniversary picture.

He smiled sadly, he and Rachel had only been together for eleven years before they had died and now she was lost to him forever...


	16. Three Siblings and Their Single Father

Narrator's POV

The following morning, Bella was rummaging through the kitchen looking for something to snack on, craving the taste of something sweet.

She eventually found a bag of what was labeled to be milk chocolate chips.

Opening it, she began to nibble on the morsels of chocolate when Raven entered the kitchen.

Glancing at the clock Bella saw that it was 7:32 AM, of course she wasn't the only one awake and hungry.

But then it stuck her as odd: Raven had the rare demonic trait of not being able to taste human food, why was he in the kitchen?

Last time she had saw him cook was during the time they had been contacted to Henry VIII and he had tried to help her with Jane Seymour's pregnancy craving of scrambled eggs with quail —well anything with quail— and he hadn't been able to even crack an egg.

They had been contacted to insure Henry had a healthy heir to the throne —eventually they had agreed enough was enough and took his soul after wife six hadn't gotten pregnant as Henry seemed to be dying, saying Elizabeth was a suitable heir.

She was immediately shocked as he prepared a batter using flour, sugar, the tiniest bit of salt, butter, milk and not 1, not 2 but 3 perfectly cracked eggs which he cracked one handed.

Bella watched as he prepared five perfectly thin yet not too thin crêpes.

She then watched as he prepared the filling for the cooling crêpes using ricotta, vanilla beans, almond extract, cinnamon, orange zest and the chocolate chips snatched right out of her hands.

As he piped the filling into the prepared crêpes, Bella spoke, "Since when can you cook?"

Raven gave a playful gasp, as if shocked by her words, but soon answered, "Since the beginning of my contract with Ciel, he wanted me to cook the human way as to not gain suspicion about why grocers never came by. Now I actual have come to enjoy it and Ciel certainly likes what I make."

Bella looked down at the finished worked, "It smells delicious. What is it?"

"It's a mixture of a cannoli and a crêpe. Supposedly it's very good, it's been one of Ciel's favorite since he tried it in Paris shortly after we bonded." Raven answered

As Raven began to leave to take the breakfast dish to his mate, Bella stopped him, "It's ironic, you being the Prince's consort after what Wolf wanted."

Raven gave a chuckle, "It's almost all I've been thinking about since Ciel told me his plan."

***

Raven walked about of the Fields of Punishment for the first time in 150 years, the year now 1047.

Like all Wrath demons, he had served the mandatory 150 years working the Fields, torturing the damned souls with the other wrath demons who were still serving their terms or had chosen to stay after.

Wrath demons were the rarest after all, only 100 of them existed at any given time out of all 10,000 demons.

The nearly 200 year old demon made his way to the House of Mammals where he knew his sire would be, having received a letter from him a few days before telling him to come visit once his term ended.

The house of mammals was a wreck of a shack just as it always had been Raven notes as he walked in, knowing the way to his sire's room.

He knocked on the door to Wolf's room, waiting for the elder demon to let him in.

It took a few moments but soon the door opened to reveal not Wolf, but a man that seemed to be physically the same age as Raven, the same shade of black hair but in a different style and with golden eyes.

Raven scowled pushing past him and entering the room and walking to Wolf, "Who is he?"

"He is your sire brother: Spider." Wolf answered, "He's been a demon for just a few weeks."

Raven rolled his eyes, "Why did you want to see me?"

"I would like it if you take your brother and show him the ropes, he's Gluttony. I figured you'd both enjoy the company of someone closer to your own age than an old man like me." Wolf said with a shrug

It took a few decades, but eventually Raven warmed up to Spider and they actually developed a brotherly relationship.

Wolf noticed the change as well, knowing he could now shift to phase two of his plan.

The next day, Wolf went out and sired a girl, a Sloth demon now known as Belladonna.

Wolf was a demon of greed and knew he would never be Prince, not when there were hundreds of other vying for Greed's crown —it was the most common sin after all.

And since he could not likely become Prince, he wanted to place a puppet Prince in another sin.

Raven had the best odds at becoming Prince: there were very few contenders for its crown; but he had no ambition for it, satiated just being a torturer there.

Spider had all the ambition to be a Prince if he just placed it properly, but he had the smaller odds seeing that Gluttony was the second most common sin —if only Spider had been a demon of Pride like Wolf had hoped.

But both had a fair chance of gaining the crown of their respective sin, so by adding a girl to the mix, they would hopefully begin to fight over her and this eliminate the weaker.

But, the four of them were distracted by the Prince of Wrath and Sloth who wanted them to spread a plague for them, choosing them based off Raven's flawless record from the Fields.

The unexpected orders set them back a century from 1349 to 1452, but that mattered not to Wolf, he would get his crown.

After the Plague Mess, Wolf informed Belladonna of his plan and her role in it and that if they succeeded she would be the consort of a Prince.

Disgusted with him, she told her sire brothers what she had learned, the brothers having different reactions.

Raven shared her disgust and wanted no part of this plan, but Spider —while disgusted atthe part involving Bella— didn't see a problem with the part with him getting a crown.

What resulted was a fight between the two sides with Raven killing wolf and nearly killing Spider, but let him live for the sake of their shared history.

But, Raven let him go with a warning, "Get out, because we were brothers I let you live. If I ever see you again, I will not let you go again."

Spider didn't hesitate running away, never seen by either sibling again.

Or at least it would have if the two brothers had not been reunited during the Victorian Era when Spider stole Ciel's soul from Raven...


	17. The Seven Princes of Hell

Narrator's POV

A few weeks passed and the group of demons seemed to come to a routine.

Of course, that routine was set off one morning when a letter appeared in front of Ciel while he was talking to the group.

“Dear the New Prince of Pride,

You have been invited to the Annual Meeting of the Princes of Hell. The Meeting will take place in the Grand Palace on February 12, 2020 from 1-8pm. You may bring your consort, or if you do not have one, your date. We look forward to meeting you.

This years host,  
Snake, the Prince of Envy.”

***

The next morning, Ciel found himself and his mate heading to the Grand Palace.

Ciel didn't know why he was so nervous but he was, maybe it was because he didn't know whether the meeting was a casual or formal affair, nor what would be discussed at said meeting.

He glanced to his mate, the taller demon wearing a plain dark grey T-shirt with his black leather jacket and black jeans and his signature black Dr. Martens.

He seemed so relaxed, he wasn't even wearing gloves, the seal of their contact free for all to see —as well as his wedding ring.

Ciel glanced down at himself, he wore a white shirt that had black long sleeves, black shorts similar to the ones he had worn back in his human days with black fishnets beneath them.

He also wore black knee socks that had three white stripes that were near the top and his feet were clad in black ankle boots.

Most interesting of all, though, was that he was wearing his crown like a choker, having enlarged it to fit down his head and then shrink it to fit snugly around his neck.

As the couple approached the Grand Palace, the techno music they could here from several hundred feet away immediately said that this wasn't a formal affair.

That comforted Ciel slightly, but he still had no clue what the afternoon held or what the six other Princes would be like.

They followed the sounds of talking to the throne room where eight thrones sat in a half circle, one much bigger than the others in the center line of thrones, empty with a crown of what seemed to be broken halos sitting on the seat of it.

All the other thrones were occupied, save the one closest to the King's throne that was identical to the one at Pride Palace; it looked like any throne you would see in a place but with purple cushions instead of red and silver frame instead of gold.

Ciel sat on his throne and Sebastian stood beside him, both observing the others in the room.

The throne on the opposite side of the King's throne obviously belonged to the Prince of Wrath, the throne itself being made of swords just like the one from Game of Thrones.

The prince sitting on the throne looked to be no older than 25 —but telling a demon's true age was impossible from sight alone— he had wildly black curly hair and reddish-rust colored eyes, his complexion said he was likely of Middle Eastern or Egyptian descent, his clothing suggesting the latter as a mix of traditional and modern trends.

No consort stood beside his throne, but what Ciel noticed was that the Prince of Wrath was staring at them, Sebastian in particular.

Wrath's Prince stood from his throne and walked towards them and stopped a few feet away from them, "Raven?"

Sebastian nodded, "It's certainly been awhile, Taz. How have you been?"

"Oh I'm doing great, I've been looking for you and your sister for ages. How long has it been? 300 years?" Taz? Wrath's Prince said before turning to Ciel, "Oh where are my manners?! I'm Tasmanian Devil, Prince of Wrath, but everyone calls me Taz. I've known Raven since our mandatory days in the Fields, we were roommates. Real pleasure to meet you." He then turned back to Sebastian, "Yeah, I took over from old Bear back in 1832."

Taz then kissed Ciel's hand and excused himself, going to talk to another Prince.

"There's a reason why I don't talk about my days in the Fields very often. He's most of it, he's very annoying but efficient." Sebastian said through their bond

"Traumatized from a bad roommate?" Ciel chuckled back

"Let's just say if I hadn't been the head servant I would've killed the others within a month. I don't take roommates well." Sebastian replied

Ciel squeezed Sebastian's hand comfortingly and then looked to the Prince in the throne beside Wrath's.

The throne itself seemed to be a stack of golden coins barely holding the shape of a throne with gems of all varieties adorning it in a nearly But not quite gaudy way.

The Prince on that throne was clearly Greed and very likely of Irish descent if his swept over, vibrant red hair was anything to go by.

The Prince's eyes were a deep grey to the point of being silver, his skin so pale that his lips seemed red and he had high cheekbones; he had a mole on his left cheek near his eye.

He wore a white dress shirt with a black sweater over it and black slacks, looking very formal at this casual meeting.

He also had seven or eight rings on his fingers, some signet and over topped with precious gems.

Beside Greed's throne was very likely Sloth's seeing that it was seemingly made of cushions and pillows.

The Prince sitting, or rather napping, on that throne seemed to be Latina with her long brown hair down in messy waves; she wore white pajamas that were lined in black, the design of it almost business like yet extremely casual.

Across from Sloth was either Envy or Lust, the throne made of human hearts covered in rose gold settled to shape the throne, indicating Lust.

Lust's Prince was not at all what Ciel was expecting, she wore a asymmetrical, long sleeved black dress that ended mid-thigh with a slit on the left leg.

Every opening on the oriential woman's dress had a corset like lace holding the dress together and she wore black high heels.

The Prince herself seemed to have only a light amount of makeup on —but having used makeup on himself in the past that very might well not be true, but he didn't know—, her lips were painted a seductive red and she had a light blush applied as well as mascara but that seemed to be it; she had diamond earrings on and her black hair was freely flowing.

Sitting beside Lust was probably Gluttony, if the gold fangs and teeth that made up his throne were anything to go by.

The Prince on that throne wore a black dress shirt that was half unbuttoned, exposing his muscular chest; his legs were clad in black slacks and he wore a few gold rings and a gold watch around his left wrist.

He had golden eyes, a stark contrast to his dark skin, and he held a glass of some amber colored drink in his hand.

Sitting on the armrest of his throne was likely his consort or date, a female demon with short lavender colored hair, silver eyes and fair skin who was wearing a navy blue dress and heels.

And sitting on the throne between him and Gluttony was Envy, who looked like how he imagined Lust to be: a blonde woman with striking green eyes and a bright pink dress and heels.

Her hair was curled slightly and she wore flattering makeup, though —her blue eyeshadow seemed a bit tacky but who was he to judge— and she had pearl earring a matching necklace.

A few minutes passed and it seemed everyone was here, so the meeting was primed to begin when the doors opened again, to reveal a Caucasian man wearing a navy blue polo and khakis, his brown hair combed and with a lumberjack style beard, "Sorry for running late, I'm Hyena."

Envy waved him over, addressing the room, "He's my date, sorry. Well now that everyone's here, let's start this meeting."...


	18. The Meeting

Narrator's POV

As the meeting began, the host, the Prince of Envy, snapped her manicured fingers and snacks and drinks —both alcoholic and not— appeared in the center of the room for the Princes to consume at their leisure.

Almost instantly, the Princes wither magicked the refreshments or asked their consorts to get it for them while they began to discuss.

Gluttony spoke first, "We might as well begin with the elephant in the room: our new Prince of Pride. Do you know what your predecessor had planned regarding the stolen souls. Reapers kept going after my subjects claiming they be the culprit."

"Unfortunately, I'm just in the dark about his plans as you are. I heard about the reaper killings and attacks but very little about the actual desire to bring the inedible souls to Hell." Ciel replied

"Where are your manners, Lion? Let our new friend here introduce himself first." The Prince of Lust criticized before turning to Ciel, "Please, tell us about yourself."

"I'm Cat." Ciel said, "There really isn't much to tell."

The other Princes laughed as if it was funny, Lust's Prince eventually saying, "There must be something interesting about you. How old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

"144." Ciel answered

"A child." Gluttony's consort scoffed, whispering

"And how did a demon as young as yourself become a Prince?" Greed's Prince asked, "It took me centuries to plan my way to my crown, how did you do it in less than 200?"

"I stumbled upon the idea a month or so ago." Ciel answered, "My predecessor didn't even try to fight back."

"We all knew Fly's time was running short, Racoon, the absolute drunkard." Sloth's Prince commented to Greed's, "And beside there are what? 200 Pride demons compared to your 2,000, it's not like he had much competition."

Soon after that the topic shifted from Ciel to petty problems demons have been having for the past year.

While he listened to the other Princes prattle on, he snacked at what Sebastian had brought him, sipping at the cider and nibbling at the cheese and crackers.

***

Hours passed and along with issues, stories of the past year were shared as well as some jokes.

Currently, Taz was sharing a story about how he had taken some of his top Wrath Demons to the forests surrounding Hell to go skinny dipping as a reward when they had stumbled across a sleeping Demon Hound.

"...I swear, eight feet tall and with giant fangs!" Taz told

"You're lying through your teeth!" Gluttony's Prince, Lion, accuses, laughing

"It turns out the white things are fangs and I mean fangs! And it's woken, and it's not happy." Taz continued

"How could you not know the demon hound was there?" Sloth's Prince asked

"And we're standing there, eight of us, naked."

"Naked?!" Ciel laughed

Taz kept going, "And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my sin, we are running! And Frog falls, so I turn to him and I say-"

"I knew we should've turned left!" Raccoon, Greed's Prince interrupted, laughing

"That's my line!" Taz exclaimed

Lust's Prince seemed to be out of breath from laughing so hard, "I don't believe you. I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?"

"No, I just picked him up and ran for it, full speed. Didn't stop until I was back in my palace. I was shaking. It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got home I realised I'm still naked." Taz answered

Gluttony raised his glass, "A toast then, to Wrath Demons being the backbone of our society but yet still managing to be the biggest load of idiots anywhere around!"

"I'll drink to that." Lust's Prince laughed

Everyone —save Sebastian who didn't desire any refreshments— raised their glasses to the toast, "To Wrath!"

As everyone drank their beverage of choice, Hyena, Envy's date, had the biggest grin on his face, waiting for everyone to put their drinks down to yell, "FREEZE!"

To the shock of everyone in the room, their bodies froze against their will.

Hyena cackled, "You idiots, I put submission potions in all of the drinks you had tonight: you are mine to control. And since I control the Princes of Hell that makes me the new King!"

"And I the Queen!" Envy's Prince laughed, not frozen as she had been a part of the plan

As Hyena dragged on about how he had fooled the 'Great Princes of Sin' and would be a far better ruler than all of them combined, the cat demon realized something: the potion that brought them to this mess had been in the food and drink they had all foolishly indulged in, almost everyone anyways: Sebastian had been the only one not to partake in any of it because he had the rare demonic trait made it so he cannot taste human food.

That meant Sebastian could move, he was only pretending to be stuck and was evaluating the situation.

"Go, leave, get out before he notices you can move." Ciel urged his mate through their bond

"I'm not leaving you, love." Sebastian refused

Ciel softened his face, knowing what he needed to do, "Forgive me, my Raven."

Sebastian's almond-shaped eyes widened and his thin lips parted in a silent 'no' as he realized what Ciel was doing, his mate only used that nickname when they fought and wanted to end the argument or...on the rare occasion he ordered him.

Ciel knew his mate would never leave him and escape unless forced to, so he mentally said the once familiar five words he hadn't used in decades, the words that now felt like bile on his tongue, the words that would give Sebastian an extra rush of energy and magic.

"Sebastian, this is an order: get out of Hell, get our family if you can, just get out and don't come back until you have a legit plan. Don't just try to overpower him by yourself. Get help. I love you." Ciel yelled at his mate through their bond

Sebastian grimly nodded, not wanting to obey but having no choice in the matter, he transformed into his animal form and flew off before Hyena noticed he was gone.

The Prince of Pride just barely hid his sigh of relief, pretending he was watching the greed demon giving his speech, actually watching the raven flying towards Pride Place miles behind him.

Hyena laughed, "That is what demons have always gotten wrong. Why settle being a prince to an absent king? Why not become King! It has always been in our nature to trick and kill to advance, and now I am the King of Hell!"

Prince Taz gritted his teeth, "You'll never be accepted King while Lucifer is alive."

"They will learn to adore me, Lucifer will never escape his cage." Hyena laughed, "Come, escort your King around his Palace."

Ciel and the other six Princes were forced to follow the so called King around the Grand Palace, the cat demon hoping Sebastian had gotten their family out of Hell and was forming a plan...


	19. A Family of Sorts

Narrator's POV

During the winter of 1945, Alois and Claude Faustus found themselves living in Canada as World War II ended.

They had moved to Canada just a few months ago to get out of the United States in case things went south there: they didn't want to get involved after all.

Currently, the couple were renting an apartment in Toronto and were going for a walk when they sensed a faint demonic energy and a dying human.

The demon mates looked into the alley and saw a young demon, one that appeared to be around five years old.

The redhead youngling seemed to be feasting on the soul of a homeless man, not noticing the other demons who approached.

Well, didn't notice until Alois gasped, "Luka!"

The feeding demon turned and faced them, a giant smile gracing his face as he rushed towards the blond demon, "Brother!"

Alois gathered his little brother up in his arms, holding him close and as tightly as he could, afraid his precious brother would disappear any second, "How are you here?"

"Last thing I remember the nice lady who granted my wish ate my soul and then I woke up on a cliff! I snuck into a trade ship and I've been in Toronto since!" Luka answered

Alois kissed his forehead, looking at his brother: he was clad in clothes far too big for him, clearly stolen off of clothing lines and was barefoot —though his feet were so caked in mud that it look liked he was wearing shoes at first glance.

Alois didn't care that his fancy dressing gown was getting covered in dirt, all that mattered was cleaning his little brother up and taking care of him.

Casting a simple illusion charm on his baby brother, making him look clean and well dressed to non-supernatural eyes, he carried him on his hip, walking up to Claude.

"Luka, this is Claude, my mat-husband." Alois introduced, thinking Luka wouldn't understand the meaning behind mate since that was a British word for friend,he then turned to the elder demon, "Claude, this is my brother, Luka."

"Hi!" Luka smiled, just as adorable as Alois remembered

"Hello." Claude greeted in turn, glad to see Alois truly happy for the first time in awhile

The trio then began to walk back to their apartment, looking like a young family.

***

As they walked, the Spider demon was deep in thought: how was it possible that Luka was alive, much less a demon?

When Hannah had made the deal with Alois to turn Ciel Phantomhive into a demon had she given her life force to Luka?

During the aftermath of his battle with 'Sebastian', when he crawled out of the trench barely alive he had assumed it had taken all of her remaining energy to turn Ciel; but to turn two demons at once, one without a body, of course she had killed herself in the process.

Glancing at the young boy his mate was speaking happily to, he was still confused: how had the boy gone decades without running into a single demon before them?

Was Canada that devoid of their kind that a youngling had gone unnoticed and uncared for; any demon who had seen him would've taken him in and taught him: it was a part of demon nature to teach the young, and it was an unofficial rule to teach the rare younglings.

Perhaps it was just fate that had reunited the brothers, or just Hannah's meddling.

***

Back in 1887, Spider had only recent became contracted to 'Alois Trancy'.

Just a year or two before he had become contracted to the new Earl, the Spider demon had formed his own pack which contained four demons excluding himself.

Raspberry —Canterbury—, Oak —Timber—, Thyme —Thompson— and Chrysanthemum —Hannah.

Regarding the first three, they were Puries whose parents had been killed by a rival, leaving the barely century old demons to find any pack they could.

But regarding the only girl in his pack, he had no idea why she was almost desperate to join, she was far older than he was, nearly thrice his age at around 2,900.

She had barely joined a few weeks ago, just a day after the contract between himself and Alois had been formed.

Months passed and the female demon seemed to obsessively taking care of their contractor, to the point where his wish was completely ignored.

Though, Claude hadn't needed to reprehend her, Alois had beaten him to it and quite literally beaten her.

After Alois had left, the butler looked to the bleeding maid who was still lying on the ground as her wounds stitched themselves back together, "What has gotten into you."

"I simply wish for his happiness and the fulfillment of his wish." She replied, the latter half of her sentence seemingly an afterthought

***

Once the trio of demons arrived to their current home, Alois had practically ditched his mate at the door and continued to carry Luka to the bathroom for a much needed bath.

Alois hummed a soothing lullaby he remembered his mother had once sung for them as he helped his brother into the tall tub where warm water was awaiting.

The clear water immediate gained a brown tint with the boy just stepping into it, by time he was just barely scrubbed with soap the water was a blackish brown.

Claude watched as Alois drained the water with a flick of his wrist and began to refill it with clean water to continue the bath.

This process was repeated twice more before Luka was finally clean, his hair more red once without dirt and his tanned skin back to its original color and no longer covered in dirt.

The eternal five year old was then picked up and wrapped in a fluffy blue towel far too big for his tiny form.

That's finally when Alois acknowledged his mate standing at the door.

And all the butterfly demon did was kiss his chin —since he wasn't tall enough to reach his cheek without his mate leaning down— as he carried his brother to the only bedroom the apartment offered: the master bedroom.

Once there he magically transformed one of Claude's old shirts into a suitable set of pajamas for Luka to wear since it was pretty late.

Since they had only one bed in their apartment, he tucked Luka into the center of the bed left him to sleep.

Once Luka was asleep or trying to, Alois went to his mate, who was sitting at the coffee-table reading the newspaper.

Smiling, the blond demon sat on his lap, kissing him gently.

Claude, naturally, kissed back, remembering the sight of Alois bathing Luka — such a motherly instinct his mate seemed to have.

Eventually, the pair changed into their nightclothes and went to bed on either side of Luka.

Soon enough Claude found himself the last one awake and looked at the sleeping demons, maybe in a century of two he and Alois could have a youngling of their own...


	20. Assistance

Narrator's POV

Ciel mentally sighed as he sat at the table with the other trapped Princes while Hyena and Envy's Prince fawned over each other as the self-proclaimed new King and Queen of Hell.

As he watched the so called royal couple feed each other chocolate-coated strawberries, missing his own mate but glad he was able to get away.

The nearby portable speaker started to play 'Hey There, Delilah', causing the Pride Demon's mind drifted away, to a memory of his mate.

Just listen to my voice, that's my disguise. I'm by your side...

***

In the summer of 2007, around 3 AM in a Atlanta apartment, Ciel sat on the breakfast bar watching his mate pop popcorn on the stove.

There were on the seventh hour of marathoning the 'Friday the Thirteenth' series and had decided to take a break to make more snacks and simply take a break from the bright screen.

Turning on the nearby radio, Ciel was surprised as he managed to catch 'Hey There, Delilah' just as it began.

The cat demon watched as Sebastian poured the prepared caramel into the popped corn, pouring it into the awaiting bowl.

"Dance with me." Sebastian asked

Ciel blushed, looking down at himself, he was wearing only one of Sebastian's shirts in their pitch black kitchen —their natural night vision allowing them to see perfectly, "You know I can't dance."

Sebastian held his handout to him, "Humor me, love."

Ciel smiled and took his hand, standing and getting pulled against his taller mate.

They slowly began to dance, not a ballroom dance or really any dance, just holding each other —Sebastian's arms around Ciel's waist and Ciel's arms around Sebastian's neck— and rocking.

Sebastian leaned down slightly and began to quietly sing in his mate's ear, "A thousand miles seems pretty far but they've got planes and trains and cars; I'd walk to you if I had no other way. Our friends would all make fun of us and we'd just laugh along because we'd know that none of them have felt this way. Delilah, I can promise you that by the time that we get through the world will never ever be the same and you're to blame."

Sebastian then twirled him around, "Hey there, Delilah, you be good, and don't you miss me: two more years and you'll be done with school and I'll be makin' history like I do. You know it's all because of you. We can do whatever we want to. Hey there, Delilah, here's to you; this one's for you."

Ciel's already blushing face was deeply red, Sebastian's voice had always been his favorite thing about him, he loved how deep it was and he sounded so beautiful singing.

Leaning up, he kissed his mate, the silent 'I love you' acknowledged and reciprocated.

***

In the rental house on Earth, Sebastian was pacing, practically having worn through the carpet as he thought up a plan to rescue his mate.

Before when Ciel had gotten kidnapped during his time as Watchdog, it hadn't taken but half a thought to rescue him from his human captor; it was easy, all he had to do was: find out who took him —which was usually super obvious—, kill everyone in his way, get him and be back to the Manor with plenty of time to make dinner.

But this was different, he couldn't just show up and kill everyone with nothing but super-human speed and strength, everyone here was on the same level as him —well he still had a advantage as a wrath demon, seeing that his type was thrice as strong as the other types of demons, who were already twenty times as strong as a human— but even he stood little chance against seven Princes under submission potions bound to an insane demon.

Even with Bella's help it would be hopeless and the other demons in the room were as useless to him as younglings as they had no training with their powers.

Besides, Ciel had ordered him to actually come up with a plan and to not use just but brute force.

Suddenly, every demon in the room turned their heads towards the window as they all sensed three demons within a few miles.

Both Sebastian and Bella both felt an extra awareness towards the demons meant: it was their brother.

"Not now." Sebastian mentally groaned, too busy planning to deal with the pest his brother had become

Then it hit him: with Spider's help a rescue mission was possible.

It was still risky, but without his help it would be a suicide mission.

Swallowing his pride, the raven demon rushed out the door towards estranged brother...


	21. The Prisoners

Narrator's POV

After the 'dinner', the Princes were dismissed and sent to their rooms in the Grand Palace like children.

The Prince's —except Envy— bodies forced them to walk up the stairs and to the top floor.

From there the six Princes split into three groups and went into three rooms.

Ciel found himself entering a giant room with Taz with two king size beds on opposite sides to the room.

That confused Ciel, in the humongous structure that was the Grand Palace, there were only four bedrooms on the top floor, three for seven Princes to share and the Master Bedroom that had never been used.

Taz seemed to sense Ciel's confusion and explained, "We all share rooms because the seven of us were meant to be siblings. Lucifer knew as our species grew we would always 'leave the nest' and he always wanted a few he could keep. It's speculated that whoever is on the thrones when he returns will be the permanent Princes."

Ciel nodded in understanding and went to the bed he assumed was meant for him.

It looked to be straight out of a French Palace.

Sitting on his bed, Ciel saw Taz open a drawer and pull out a pair of crimson sweatpants and a T-shirt.

The Pride demon saw a similar drawer on his side of the room and went to it, finding a giant T-shirt similar to one's he usually wore to sleep —it seemed the Palace functioned off of Lucifer's powers and catered to each Prince accordingly.

Glancing to his side he saw he saw Taz was already dressed and sitting on his bed.

Ciel walked back to his bed and put the shirt on it, beginning to undress himself.

He easily got his boots off, just slipping his feet out but from there was the issue.

Ciel's face flushed red in embarrassment as admitted to himself that he couldn't undress himself.

The Wrath demon noticed his heavy blush and asked, "Is something wrong, Kitty? Well besides the obvious part that were all trapped."

Ciel didn't say anything for a few moments, then hanging his head in shame, "In my human life I was a nobleman; I was always undressed and dressed by others. It remained that way even after I became a demon, or I would just use magic to change my clothes."

The other Prince understood what he meant and what went unsaid: while they were under Hyena's control they had no access to their magic and Raven had escaped, meaning the younger Prince couldn't change his clothes.

"I could help you...if you want." Taz offered, "It wouldn't be sexual at all, I swear."

Admitting defeat, Ciel agreed to get his help and stood and let himself get stripped down to his boxers.

Soon he was in his sleep shirt, a bleached ‘Guns and Roses’ T-shirt.

"Thank you." Ciel said once Taz helped him change

Taz gave him a soft smile, "It's no problem. I promise I won't tell anybody about your little secret."

Ciel gave a little laugh, "Yeah, please don't."

They both laid down in their respective beds and began to drift to sleep when Taz broke the silence, "Ya know, when I was human, I had a little brother who was kinda like you. We were street rats and it forced us to grow up real fast, but he was so young. He depended on me and I took care of him. I remember one time I was out looking for scraps when I stumbled across two men fighting with strange weapons —though know I know they were demon swords— and one killed the other and the victor began to swipe the blade at me. I grabbed the loser's sword and killed him. By doing that I was turned into a demon but I didn't figure it out for a few years, I just knew I wasn't hungry and that just meant more for my brother. I watched as he grew up and grew old and after he died a old man I was found by a demon and told what I had become. During my mandatory time in the Fields I tried to find him, but he wasn't there, he's at peace upstairs."

They both were silent again for a few seconds before Taz spoke again, "You act just like him. And I've never mentioned him to anyone before."

"What was his name?" Ciel asked, his voice barely above a whisper

"Kafele, the one to die for." Taz whispered back

***

Hours later, Ciel woke up hugging his pillow, which was a sad DIY Sebastian; he hadn't slept by himself in a hundred years, it was so strange.

"I hope you're safe." Ciel whispered aloud, their bonds closed off

Ciel wished he had remembered to bring his phone to the meeting, he had left it behind in his palace.

***

In the morning, the process was completed again with Taz helping Ciel dress into a new outfit he found in the drawer: a maroon jacket; a navy blue crop-top that held white pictures of the sin, moon, and stars; ripped, whitewashed jean shorts, white low-top Converse and gold necklace that held a white crystal.

The duo simply continued to talk as they waited, knowing they couldn't leave the room until the 'King' called upon them.

They waited several hours to be called upon, it being well in the afternoon, nearly four pm, when the lazy bum of a demon finally decided to wake up.

Luckily, that also meant less time in the day Hyena could end Westin himself with them, simply taking about how great he was and forcing them to repeat those words.

Though, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in the horizon for Ciel: he saw a raven fly by the window, just for half a second.

The only animals naturally found in Hell were demon hounds, every bird was a demon, and there was only one raven.

Ciel was careful not to let his hope show, but within him it shone.

And as if he needed further proof, the mating bond opened for just a second and whispered, "Not much longer, sweetheart."...


	22. Retribution

Narrator's POV

After the so called 'brunch', Hyena decided that he wanted to go out on the town with his Princes in tow.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't a whole lot to actually do in Hell, so he took his unwilling entourage to the Market.

He immediately began to look for a potion seller to renew the strength of the submission potions, knowing that they wouldn't last forever on the resisting Princes.

And luckily for Hyena, he found one right away just a few hundred feet into the bustling market, the potions booth was being run by a rather attractive female demon with long black hair that was dyed white in an ombré way.

Desperate the fact that his mate was quite literally on his arm, the self-proclaimed King of Hell began to flirt with the brewer as he purchased six submission potions.

***

With Hyena buying the potions and Envy's Prince distracted with her mate openly flirting with another, Ciel was focused on trying to hide his shock at the fact that Bella was literally the person selling the potions to Hyena.

With the Pride demon in thought, he was shaken out of them by being pushed slightly by a demon that walked into him.

Ciel barely caught a glance of the tall man's black hair and matching leather jacket before he walked away.

Having felt the 'stranger's' fingers in his pocket, Ciel found a tiny note in his pants pocket, discreetly pulling it out and reading it.

“The potion Hyena will give you all next is actually the antidote. Warn the others to act as if still under its influence. I will see you tomorrow. -S.”

The cat demon then ate the note without being noticed, destroying the evidence.

A small smile fought its way into his eyes, his mate was here, had delivered the note and was coming to get him.

***

Later that day when they were sent to their rooms, Ciel told the other Princes the contents of the note and told them to act as if nothing had changed.

And just as Ciel predicted, the following morning the idiotic demon controlling him ordered them to drink the potions they were given.

The antidote made no noticeable change to the six Princes, but Ciel noticed a slight change in their postures as each of them regained control of their bodies and powers.

Once Ciel regained control, he immediately reopened the mate bond he shared with Sebastian, sensing him nearby.

Because he sensed his mate meant, Ciel wasn't really surprised when the windows of the Grand Palace's Throne Room all shattered as the four demons that made up his Inner Circle as well as Alois Trancy and Claude? crashed into the room through them.

As that happened, the front door was kicked open to reveal Sebastian as well as Bella.

"Kill them!" Hyena shouted at the Princes, expecting them to obey his command, instantly surprised as they made no movements, "NOW!"

"I don't think so, you pompous fuck." Greed's Prince spat, summoning a demon sword

The self-proclaimed royal couple gulped in fear as they made a mad dash away from their attackers, realizing they had been played.

Five of the Princes and most of the rescuers went after them, leaving only Ciel and Sebastian behind.

Just for a moment though, since the raven demon wasted no time scooping the cat one into his arms and joining the chase.

***

Since everyone in the Palace was a demon with superhuman speed, the chase lasted around five minutes before Hyena and his mate were cornered in a hallway on the top floor.

Taz, the Prince of Wrath, chuckled as he saw the bloodlust in his companions eyes, "I know just a place that we can dole out justice."

Everyone grinned as they thought of torturing the pair in the Fields.

"Don't want to ruin Lucifer's curtains after all." Lust's Prince laughed, the others joining in

The hated pair quickly found themselves hogtied and being transported to the Field for a more in-depth punishment.

***

As they made their way to the Field, Sebastian was quite literally smothering his mate in kisses.

While demons didn't really have to breathe, not being able to was quite uncomfortable though Ciel loved how covered in love he was.

After a few minutes, Sebastian eventually eased up on the amount of kisses and caught him up on what he had missed.

"In exchange for my brother's and Alois' help I traded Envy's throne. Alois will be the next Prince." Sebastian said, explaining the deal he had made

While Ciel would have preferred to see his aunt on Envy's throne, he understood why Sebastian had done what he did, and besides, it wasn't a that bad.

***

By the time the couple arrived to the Fields, they seemed to be right on time to see the prisoners bound with chains engraved with runes —making them impossible to be broken by demonic strength alone.

Hanging on the two remaining walls were a assortment of torture devices that while wouldn't be fatal on their own would cause serious pain.

In a show of respect, Taz handed Sebastian the blade in his hand, saying, "Let's let our rescuer get first dibs."

Sebastian took the turn with grace, setting his mate down so he could use both hands to the pick Hyena up and slam his back against his knee, breaking his spine.

The resulting crack and consequential scream would have brought even the most seasoned human to vomit in disgust, it was actually quite arousing for the demons to hear, especially for Ciel since his succubus instinct was quite attracted to his incubus protecting him.

And as his turn ended, Sebastian noticed that little fact, seeing Ciel unconsciously rubbing his thighs together.

He chuckled at that and spoke to his mate through their bond, "Enjoying the show, my love?"

"Perhaps." Ciel replied, a light blush covering his face

Hours passed and everyone had a dozen or so turns before it became obvious some people were getting bored of torturing the two and just wanted to get it over with.

Ciel simultaneously was and wasn't one of them, still enjoying the show but feeling rather...needy for his mate.

Upon his next turn, Alois sunk his demon sword into Envy's Prince's heart, killing her and making her body disappear with only her crown remaining.

Putting on the crown, Alois was turned into Envy's new prince and gained the fourth form: black leather booty-shorts, a grey frilly shirt and gold fishnets with the signature demon heels.

With the Prince replaced, Hyena wasn't long left alive and killed as well.

Everyone returned to their own palace and rested, Ciel getting his needs met by his eager mate...


	23. Another Invitation

Narrator's POV

In the weeks following the fiasco of a Meeting, Ciel received another letter from the Princes, this time from Taz.

“Dear Kitty,

I have decided to host a Hunt this year to celebrate our regained freedom. If you’d like to come you can bring Raven and two guests of your choice. Dress comfortably as we’ll be chasing humans and killing them in the forests surrounding Hell. The Hunt will begin on March 1 at 7:30PM at the Grand Palace.

Your Friend, Taz.”

"What do you think?" Ciel asked, knowing Sebastian was reading the letter over his shoulder

"The Hunt is something most demons —wrath at least— try to get invited to. It is broadcasted to all of Hell and is basically the Super Bowl of a demon's career." Sebastian explained

"Have you ever been?" Ciel asked

"I have been invited but I declined the invitation." The older demon answered

"How come?" Ciel asked, tilting his head —rather cutely in his mate's opinion

"I was busy on contract." Sebastian said before smirking, "And with the amount of assassins that tried to kill you every day and night I couldn't just leave you alone with nothing but those four incompetent humans for two days to get drunk in the woods."

"So I suppose it'll be a first for us both." Ciel said, leaning over and kissing him

"It shall be." Sebastian replied through their bond, too busy licking the half-dried syrup off of Ciel's lips to speak

***

Sebastian stroked Ciel's right hand mindlessly as he sat beside his mate, watching him finishing up the breakfast he had prepared for him.

The elder demon was deep in thought as he watched his mate eat: he was a demon that would never know Heaven —that was just a fact— but in this past one hundred and thirty-four years he had gained a personal heaven that he had nearly lost.

He would not allow Ciel to be taken from him again.

And now with the Hunt to worry about...he would not let Ciel out of sight, not even out of arm's reach is he could help it.

The forests around Hell were crawling with Demon Hounds as well as demons hoping to get close ups of the show.

He would protect his heaven And let him have his fun.

***

Now, waiting in the Grand Palace on his throne, Ciel found himself waiting for the Hunt to begin.

He found himself wearing a black tank-top with spaghetti straps that held white pictures of the sun and moon along with studded black jeans shorts and black and white sneakers.

He then looked to his guests.

Sebastian's closet held very little in the way of true casual clothes, the man rather trendy with a formal flair, but today he wore a crimson muscle-tank —though you couldn't tell that from under his leather jacket— and black jeans and his signature boots and he wore fingerless black leather gloves.

He then turned to his next guest, his father: Vincent wore a black Polo and dark-washed jeans and brown boots.

He then turned to his final guest, his aunt; she had taken to modern clothing the hardest simply because how lazy the fashion had gotten but she did like how common it was for women to wear pants and shirts.

She wore a red shoulder-less shirt and black corseted jeans with red flats.

He then looked across the room to the newest Prince: Alois Trancy.

He wore a black crop-top that had the silver letters 'KILL' on it.

The blonde also wore a black jean skirt and black fishnets

His only guest was his mate who was dressed rather similarly to Sebastian, which was really pissing Sebastian off.

And finally, the last Prince arrived so the Hunt could begin: the host: Taz.

Instead of his usual clothes, his wore a black button-up and matching jeans.

And most surprisingly, on his arm, was his date: Bella.

No wonder she had turned down his invitation when she had gotten a date.

She wore a mesh shirt that only truly covered her chest as well as white and black checkerboard skirt.

"So now that everyone's here, I suppose we can begin."  
Taz said, looking into the full throne room with all 22 demons inside, "Like every Hunt, there are fifty humans awaiting us in the crate by the woods. They get a hour long head start to try to hide or elude us. After that we have tonight through tomorrow night to find them. There is no rush as we will be having fun as we look and a camp has been prepared for us to hang out at when we we get bored of looking for them."

The group of demons then walked through the Market, crowds of demons wishing them a good Hunt as they made it to the forest where a giant wooden crate waited.

Taz then excused himself and walked through the walls of the crate via the shadows and gave the humans a run down of what was expected of them if they hoped to survive.

If they went the full time without being found —and they couldn't leave the forests as there were demons waiting everywhere to make sure no one broke that rule— they could go home with no cost —though he didn't mention that there had never been a human to make it in the millennias the Hunt had happened.

The crate door was then opened and the humans given their hour head start.

Once the hour ended, Taz regained everyone's attention and shouted, "READY? BEGIN THE HUNT!"

And with that, all of the twenty two demons ran into the woods full speed...


	24. One Hell of a Good Time

Narrator's POV

Once the hour was up, the twenty-two demons part of the Hunt ran into the forest.

At full speed, demons can run 100 miles an hour, but once they were about two miles in they all screeched to a halt —which took just over a minute— knowing humans were much slower than them and not wanting the fun to end quickly.

The twenty-two demons then split off into seven smaller groups of either 4,3 or 2 and went their separate ways.

And since there were 50 humans in the woods, each demon was allowed two of them, with an exception to the Princes who got three.

Ciel and his group traveled at jogging speed as they looked for their prey.

During the first half hour, Angelina pointed out the first human in their vicinity and the other three let her claim the human as one of her two kills of the weekend.

Ciel watched in mild amusement as he watched his aunt run after the pathetically slow man and extract his soul through the wound she left in his throat.

The cat demon get his mouth water at the sight of the soul, though he recognized the average quality of it, but what truly had his focus was the blood gushing out of the spit throat and staining the grey grass below.

Licking his lips, Ciel remember what Taz had implied during his little speech, that the bodies of the fifty were just going to be left wherever in the forest for the Hounds to feast upon.

And the Hunt was about truly embracing demonic nature...so why not?

Ciel glanced to his side, looking at the smirk his mate had displayed on his face, knowing the older demon was reading his thoughts and agreed.

Once his aunt returned with her prize, Ciel wished his father and aunt a good Hunt and excused himself and Sebastian from them to go Hunt on their own.

***

Deep within the forest, easily five miles in, a human woman around twenty six years old ran through the demonic woods with her boyfriend.

Selena panted as she ran through the forest, the greenish-blackish trees with their blue leaves blocking several paths, she clutched Ethan's hand as she ran through them anyways, braking them with brute force.

And while she was absolutely pissed at her boyfriend for getting them in this mess in the first place for selling his soul for her promotion and trying to cheat the demon out of the deal.

Why did he even sell his soul for that stupid of a reason?!

Did he not think she was capable of getting it on her own?!

But either way, they were in this mess being chased by about two dozen demons for three days with a seemingly hopeless task to survive.

So yeah, she didn't want to face this alone no matter how mad she was.

As they made it through the path, they sat down and took a break, exhausted from all the running and breaking branches.

Well, they were taking a break until they heard running to which they climbed a high up a nearby tree to hide.

They tried to breathe as softly and as little as they could as two demons entered view.

The first was short and looked like a teenage boy with navy blue hair; he had heterochromia with his left eye being a normal blue eye and his left lavender with a pentagram as a pupil.

The other demon was extremely tall, easily 6'4 with black hair and red eyes; he looked around their age being a young adult.

As the pair of demons walked by, the smaller one suddenly stopped walking in front of their tree and sniffed the air.

Being distracted by that, the two humans didn't notice the taller demon disappear from view and push them out of the tree.

***

Sebastian tsked at the humans he had pushed, gracefully landing behind them, "Oh, you'll have to try harder than that."

That earned a chuckle from his mate as they watched the humans tried to crawl away from them.

"Tie the girl up, let's play with the boy first." Ciel said to his mate, his voice near a purr

Sebastian, ever dutiful, did as asked, conjuring a chain and tying the girl to the tree he had pushed her out of.

With their focus now on just the male human, Ciel kicked him, listening to the sickening sound of his ribs cracking as he flipped to his side.

The cat demon then straddled the injured human, rather sexually pressing his torso against the human's.

If anything he looked like he was about to kiss him, but fight as he leaned in, he sunk his fangs into the human's neck and took a chunk of the flesh out and ate it.

Ciel had been careful to avoid a vein, but still blood splattered out of the wound and onto his face.

Ciel's lower face is stained red with blood and Sebastian wanted nothing more than to lick it off. 

He wants to keep the memory of this moment forever, so he did, capturing it with a conjured Polaroid and putting the photo of into his pants pocket.

His beloved mate has never looked so perfect as he does now, the red blood dripping down his chin and on to his neck and shirt —staining the white suns and moons red.

The raven demon watched as the cat one used his demon dagger to cut a slit in the humans body, starting at the base of his throat and stopping just above his navel —the humans screaming and crying ignored.

He then puts the dagger back into its magical hiding place and digs his hands into the new hole in the human's torso, pulling out organ after organ and tossing them into the grey grass in his search for a specific one —even though he already knew where to find it.

Right before he pulled out the humans heart, he sucked out his average soul.

Once the soul was tucked into his pocket, he ripped out the heart and began to bite into it as if it where an apple.

Sebastian turned to look at the chained human girl, watching as she vomited due to his mate's actions.

The best part of it? Ciel was doing it for fun.

Demons don't eat humans, they eat their souls: but Ciel, in all his perfect dementedness was going to devour them just because he can.

Sebastian watched asCiel's eyes burned red and then magenta; he's lost himself to his demonic side, giving himself over to the greed and gluttony that came so easily to their kind.

And with that, Sebastian was no longer able to restrain himself from leaning down and capturing Ciel's mouth with his own. 

Diligently, he licked away every streak of blood from the younger demon's face, leaving only the slight stain the redness left behind.

Ciel kissed him deeply, feeling Sebastian's tongue in his mouth, feeling him lick up the mess in there as well.

The Prince internally laughed at that, it seemed Sebastian never truly left some butler habits behind, just adapted them.

Ciel broke the kiss just long enough to offer his mate a bite of the organ, which the older demon did.

Between them, the organ lasted little more than a minute, which ended with them making out on top of the dead human's corpse.

"I don't suppose his brain will taste quite as good." Ciel said through the bond

"I agree, far too rubbery." Sebastian replied, "Though it does seem we were rather wasteful with out meal."

Ciel looked to the organs he had tossed about, "Perhaps, but none of them are as fun as a heart. In fact I'd say there full of crap. Let the Hounds have them."

Sebastian shrugged, "What next, my love?"

"Well I would ask you to ravish me on her partner's corpse but since all of Hell is watching, I'd rather not." Ciel answered, "Though hint hint, nudge nudge I want this for our next anniversary."

"I'll absolutely look into it." Sebastian chuckled darkly, turning back to the trapped human, "And what about our guest?"

"Well let's see, I got my kill and still got two more and you still have two; so it's up to you, daddy." Ciel purred, keeping his tone low enough towards the end so only Sebastian could hear

Sebastian smirked at that, looking back at the human girl, "Whatever shall I do?"...


	25. This is Where the Fun Begins

Narrator's POV

"Ah, yes I know what to do." Sebastian said, pretending to be thoughtfully tapping his chin

Ever the actor, Sebastian left a dramatic pause to left their demonic audience get onto the edges of their seats.

"I would like to play a game with you." Sebastian said in his best Jigsaw impression

"Seriously? SAW?" Ciel deadpanned through the bond

"It's fitting for the situation." Sebastian countered

"That series is literally just torture pørn." Ciel retaliated

"You enjoy that series, the fact that we binge it every Halloween proves it." Sebastian pointed out

"I never said I didn't." Ciel muttered, knowing he lost, "Just announce to the crowd what you're gonna do."

"But before we play our game, you need to be punished for being so easily found. I am going to unchain you and if you try to run I will break your legs which will put you at a severe disadvantage for our game." Sebastian warned the girl, unchaining her

Understanding, she stood still as she waited for the punishment.

"Who was our former guest here to you?" Sebastian asked, referring to the corpse of Ethan

"H-he's my boy-boyfriend." Selena stuttered, terrifies of what was going to happen to her after seeing what they did to Ethan

That caused the demon to chuckle rather evillyas he knelt down and pulled an organ out of the corpse, pulling out a kidney, "Hold out your hands."

Shakily, she did as instructed and nearly collapsed as he placed it on her hands.

"Eat it." Sebastian ordered her

She looked up from the kidney and at him, her lips beginning to form the word 'no' but he interrupted her before she could speak, "If you don't then I'll just let my mate have his feast without a game, I'm afraid it's only his curiosity holding him bay at the moment and it's dwindling fast."

Gulping in fear, Selena raises the kidney to her lips and nibbled a tiny bit from it, gagging as the chunk of meat hit her tongue.

"Don't be so modest, eat properly." Sebastian prompted her

She took a bigger bite and swallowed with barely a chew, immediately bending over and throwing up right onto Sebastian's Dr. Marten's.

Ciel's eyes widened as Sebastian's boots were covered in the vomit, watching as his mate didn't get mad but eerily calm.

The raven demon just picked Ciel up and sat down on a nearby fallen tree, Ciel on his lap, "Clean up your mess."

The human girl knelt down and began to wipe the vomit off with her jacket sleeve.

Sebastian tsked, "With your tongue."

Ciel grabbed the Polaroid from around Sebastian's neck and took a picture of her licking Sebastian's shoes.

Once his boots where cleaned, Ciel kicked her away from them and peppered kisses along Sebastian's jaw.

Seeing a chance to escape, the humiliated woman began to run.

The demon couple watched her run, Sebastian saying, "How disappointing, it seems like our next human will have to play the game instead."

They then ran after her, easily catching her and just as promised, Sebastian broke her legs.

Selena screamed and cried as her femurs were snapped in half but she didn't stop as she continued to crawl away.

After that, both of her humerus were broken, preventing her from crawling away.

Ciel said nothing as Sebastian continued to break each and every of the 206 bones in her body, naming each one as he broke it.

"In another life, Sebastian would have made an excellent doctor, or serial killer, or both." Ciel thought as Sebastian neared the end of the bone breaking

"Are you still hungry, my love?" Sebastian asked

"I am ravenous." Ciel answered dramatically, mindful of the invisible audience

Sebastian set Ciel down at last, "Would you like to do the honors or should I?"

"It's your kill." Ciel said, "I would like the heart."

And he didn't have to wait long for Sebastian to pull the beating heart out of her chest and get it in his hands.

Ciel ate it happily, looking like a kid in a candy store as he consumed every bite of it while Sebastian took her soul.

Since they got two of their combined five kills for the weekend, they decided to find the camp and wait until tomorrow to continue.

***

It didn't take long to find the camp Taz had set up for the twenty-two of them.

What the pair hadn't expected was how glamorous it would be.

There was ten tents in a circle around a fire pit and a table made out of crates.

Instead of chairs, the crates had accompanying pillows to sit on.

Near the center of the camp, they found a tent labeled, "Kitty and Raven" and went inside.

The tent was beautiful, it was better than some of the worst hotels they'd stayed in —though Ciel's definition of worst was a three-star hotel.

Ciel yawned and just watched as Sebastian magically changed his clothes into clean ones and did them did the same to Ciel.

This was the only place the magical cameras wouldn't follow them into, their tent, and they could do whatever they wanted until the others arrived.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ciel asked

"A nap?" Sebastian answered

"Exactly!" Ciel laughed, laying on the plush king sized bed

"Then rest, I'll wake you when the others arrive for the night." Sebastian said

***

Hours later, Ciel was gently woken by Sebastian as they heard voices near the camp.

The pair got up and went towards them, seeing Taz and Bella heading towards a smoker on the edge of camp, both of them were dragging corpses and it was clear they were going to smoke the meat.


	26. A Party, if You Could Call it That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://youtu.be/PQPRqB6KfZA  
> This is the song in reference.

Narrator's POV

Nothing much happened for the rest of the night, or what classified as night in the eternal darkness of Hell, when the flameglass' light was the most dimmed, and everyone rested for the next day.

***

Once the 'day' began, everyone went out on their own time to continue the Hunt.

In the ginormous forest, it was easy to forget how many demons were participating, it always felt like you were alone in the expanse.

Between Ciel and Sebastian, they still had three more kills for the weekend but Taz had said last night to make sure to save one for the tonight's party, so in reality they had two kills for today.

It didn't take very long, just a few seconds of running at top speed to catch up to a woman who was dressed as if she had been plucked out of a cocktail party.

She was completely overdressed to be in the forest, her pale pink dress stained with dirt and and grey grass-stains.

She was barefoot and carried her white heels in her hands, the heel facing outwards to be a makeshift weapon.

And for someone on such high alert, she certainly didn't hear them approach until Ciel spoke.

"Oh hi, Cinderella, weren't you suppose to leave a show at the ball?" Ciel asked

"Cinderella? She seems to be more of an Ugly Stepsister." Sebastian added with a smirk

"You're right." Ciel laughed, "Let's give the washed-up stepsister her proper ending, none of that Disney crap."

To begin, she was tied to a nearby tree with her feet tied in a way that held them up.

And just like the stepsisters in the Grimm's Story, the heels of her feet were cut off and all ten toes.

The cut-off meat didn't go to waste either, all forcefully fed to her as she screamed.

Once the chinks were all cut off, Sebastian used a bit of magic to make the heels shrink into an appropriate size for her smaller feet and put them back on her, having also enchanted them to force her to dance and turned the shoes into metal.

Catching onto Sebastian's plan, Ciel magicked a pit of hot coals for her to dance on, after he created he looked into the invisible camera as if he were on the Office, "Only you can prevent forest fires."

The 'Ugly Stepsister' danced upon the hot coals, crying and screaming in pain as she did.

And just to wrap everything up with her in a bow, Sebastian transformed into his animal form and plucked out her eyes, eating one and dropping the other in Ciel's watching hand.

After her eyes were eaten, she didn't last very long and soon collapsed, her body cooking to death.

Once she died, her soul was collected and Ciel ate her heart —and the pit of coals returned to their original form of a pile of leaves.

***

The whole ordeal with the 'Ugly Stepsister' took about two hours, so now it was vault noon and there was still a lot of time to kill —literally and metaphorically.

They took their time looking for their last kill of the day, eventually finding a man hiding in a lake —presumably the one featured in Taz's story from the Meeting.

Sebastian dove into the lake and seam after him, catching up to him and grabbing him, tying him to a nearby boulder.

"What game were you going to make that girl yesterday play?" Ciel asked through the bond

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Let's play a game that will eat up our afternoon." Sebastian said, then facing the man, once again using the Jigsaw impression, "I'd like to play a game with you."

"We are going to play hide and seek." Sebastian said to the human man, "You are going to hide from us and if we don't find you by the tonight you can live."

Sebastian produced a sapphire colored ribbon embroidered with silver thread from thin air, tying it around the man's wrist.

"Proprietas Princeps Superbiae." The ribbon read, or in English, "Property of the Prince of Pride."

"Be sure to keep the ribbon on or your fair game to the other demons." Sebastian warned, untying the man and letting him run off

"How much of a head start is he getting?" Ciel asked

"Half hour to an hour sounds fair." Sebastian said, "Since I'm already soaking wet, would you like to swim for s bit while we wait?"

"Sure." Ciel said, magically changing his clothes into his swimsuit

It was a one piece that was a navy blue with sailor-esque with white stripes, it also had flounce sleeves.

Sebastian did similarly and dressed in his swim trunks which were a dark grey with lighter grey feathers; Sebastian's muscular form exposed as well as his tattoos.

They swam around and messed around for awhile until the timer on Sebastian's phone —which was waiting with their towels on land along with Ciel's phone— went off.

The mated couple then returned to land and dried off, then magicking their normal clothes back on and went to find the human.

Unfortunately, the human wasn't very bright and had decided to hide barely three hundred feet from the lake, hiding in a rather dense bush.

He was decapitated and his heart removed from the neck and his soul taken.

***

That night, was special, they would be having a Demon Circle.

Demons rarely held Demon Circles anymore now that the Industrial Age was last but apparently back during the Medieval Era they had been all the rage.

They happened so frequently back then that humans called them Faerie Rings, and all they left behind were a ring of mushrooms.

For Demons though, the circle began with a song that would magically drew humans towards it.

It depended on the will of the human if they actually entered but the magic of it dulled the mind.

Currently, Taz and Lust's Prince were setting up the speakers to make sure the music would be heard by the humans and once that was done, the music would start.

All the other demons had to do was dance and seduce the humans into entering the circle of their free will.

The music began to boom in the forest and within the twenty meter circle, the demons began to dance.

Ciel danced closely to his guests, almost sensually with Sebastian, as the flow of the circle went through them.

As he danced, Ciel realized he recognized this song and danced over to Taz.

"Quare in Inferno, est quia musica Daemon Circulus a stupri Bratz movie?" Ciel whispered to Taz (Why the Hell is the music for the Demon Circle from a fucking Bratz movie?)

"Quia est unus of pauci carmina homines fecerunt, quod potest committitur a Daemon Circulus." Taz replied as he danced (Because it is one of the few songs humans have made that can start a Demon Circle.)

"Suus'a dapibus elit" Ciel pointed out (It's from a kid's movie?)

"Et?" Taz asked (And?)

"Hoc bonum." Ciel shrugged, dancing back to his group (Good point.)

The music stayed on repeat while the circle worked its magic to draw the humans to them.

After about ten minutes, the first few of the twenty or so humans remaining made their way towards the camp and thus the Demon Circle.

Every demon eyed the humans that approached, waiting for them to cross the runes that made up the circle's borders.

"Just let go~"

The music whispered in the minds of the humans, helping them let go of their restraint and self-preservation.

One by one, the humans entered the circle and began to dance among the demons until only four remained outside of the circle.

All twenty-two demons focused on the four, five or six demons focused on one human a piece.

The first went in almost immediately once gaining that much attention.

The second soon followed.

The third and fourth were yet to come in, the third trying to go but the fourth held her sister back.

"Casey, let's go!" The eager sister said, her tone sounding drunken

"Think, Sammy, think! We've been hunted by those monsters since yesterday morning!" The only ther sister, Casey, yelled

Each sister had eleven demons paying attention to them, trying to seduce them into going the circle.

Eventually, Sammy managed to get out of her sister's hold and ran into the circle.

"You're so strong, Casey, don't you wanna let someone else be strong for you?" A random male demon —Ciel belived him to be one of Taz's guests— cooed to her

With their seductive dances, the circle's magic, the controlling music, and their words, Casey felt her resolve breaking, but tried to hold strong.

"Just let go now, here's your chance~"

Finally, it seemed the magic was taking root.

With every beat, she moved closer and closer to the circle until she was inside of it.

The runes locked the humans in and that's when the bloodbath began.

The air within the circle was thick with blood spray, the fluid almost a mist as the humans were killed and their souls taken.

And with that, the Hunt was over, but it wouldn't officially be over until dawn.

But, since the fun parts were over, Hell wasn't watching anymore...


	27. Family Bonding

Narrator's POV

The next morning, since the Hunt was over, the twenty-two demons that were a part of the demonic holiday began to head to Wrath Palace for the after-party.

Once the group of demons emerged from the forest, they were surprised to see dozens of demons waiting for them.

The awaiting demons cheered when they saw the Prince of Pride and his consort, they had been the most entertaining group during the Hunt.

The after party was just a simple affair with plenty of food and drinks —the majority of our t being liquor— and everyone sharing tales of what they had done during the Hunt.

"From what I've been hearing, Kitty and Raven stole the show." Taz said

"You jest, we just embraced our demonic nature full heartedly." Ciel shrugged

"So modest." Rabbit, Lust's Prince, laughed

The discussion then left Ciel and back to the tales of the others, making occasional u-turns back to the Pride demon.

Eventually, once the group discussions were over, everyone seemed to slit off into smaller groups.

Ciel then made his way over to Taz, "I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"What would it be?" Wrath's Prince asked

"My bloodlust is still rather high from the Hunt, I'd like your permission to 'blow some steam' with a human that's gotten on my nerves that's currently in the Fields." Ciel asked, knowing he needed Taz's permission

"You'd be the first to ask for permission to. Go ahead, have fun!" Taz laughed, pouring himself another glass of what the bottle labeled as 'Arak'

Ciel thanked him and went back to his family, telling his aunt and father he had a surprise for them.

Sebastian already knew what Ciel was going to say to him, so, to beat him to it, he kissed the top of his head and told him to have fun.

This was one of the times Ciel loved how in-sync he and his mate were, watching as the older demon went and socialized with Taz and his sister.

Sebastian and Vincent were still very tense around each other, it would be best for Sebastian not to come on the little outing until they began to get along.

***

It didn't take long for the trio to get to the Fields from Wrath Palace, but once there Ciel went to the board that held every tortured soul's name and which sin they could be found in, seeing the name he was looking for within Wrath.

Once they got to Wrath, near the back of the gated area, he found the cell he was looking for.

"Alexandrina Victoria Hanover - Queen Victoria" The door to the cell read

Ciel opened the door to reveal an barren room similar to the one his father had been in, and inside was Queen Victoria not as the elderly woman he remembered her as but in the young form she had died in.

Her skin was half rotten in some places where it had been sewn to the normal flesh by the angel.

She looked up slightly and frowned at the three people who had entered her cell, tears of not blood but actual tears streaming down her cheeks.

The former Queen didn't speak as she noticed their presence, in a way she had always known this was coming.

The Phantomhives would have their revenge at last.

The grey haired woman spoke at last, barely acknowledging the former Watch Dogs, "Vincent. Ciel."

"Long time no see, Vicky," Vincent spat, using a commoners nickname, "seeing that you killed me and tried to kill my son several times."

"You were connected to your wife forever; one being, one entity. It made you pure, no you are again impure." Victoria said, not looking at him

"If you're so pure why are you here in Hell and not in Heaven?" Ciel asked mockingly

"Ash will come for me. He purged my impurities when he joined me with my beloved Albert." Victoria replied, rocking slightly, "He will come."

And that caused the Prince of Pride to smirk, "Ash Landers is long dead. Sebastian and I killed him."

Her face grew horrified and grotesque with rage, "You're lying. You could never kill a divine being such as Ash!"

"Seeing that demons are also supernatural beings on the opposite side of the spectrum, it is completely possible to kill an angel." Ciel countered, "He screamed rather nicely as Sebastian finished him off."

That seemed to be her breaking point, causing her to lunge for the cat demon, who easily pushed her down to the floor with his demonic strength.

The bruise she managed to cause on the bluenette's cheek healed within seconds, shocking the ex-Queen.

Last she had known, only the boy's butler had been a demon not it seemed these three were as well.

"You shouldn't have done that." Ciel's Aunt hissed, drawing an ordinary blade from her shirt sleeve, slashing the other woman in the face

Victoria yelped in pain but tried to silence herself, not letting the impure ones be satisfied.

Angelina smiled at her favorite and only nephew, "What do you think, dear Ciel, should old Jack pay this bitch a visit?"

Ciel laughed a bit as he realized what she meant, "Why not? Though I doubt she still has one in that rotten body."

"Doesn't hurt to check." Ann laughed, "Well us, anyways. Vincent, be a dear and hold her up."

Once the vulture demon did as asked, the former doctor then cut a precise cut along the ex-Queen's lower stomach, ripping her gown as the skin ripped as well, letting loose her rotten organs as she began to search for her uterus.

Ciel tsked as he gazed upon the rotten innards, "Looks like Albert didn't help you at all."

"I am pure." Victoria solemnly whispered, closing her eyes

"How delusional can you be?" Vincent asked, shaking the human spirit to let the rest of her insides outside

Ciel then walked up with a steel dagger in hand, cutting up the bodice of her dress and the strings of her corset, revealing the rotten flesh of her torso.

He then began to carve 'demonic' symbols onto her chest and stomach, "Still pure?"

That was the breaking point for her, she collapsed to the floor and began to sob, her spirit broken worse in the pasts half hour of torture than the other demons had done to her in the past 130 years.

And with that victory, the trio left, saying they'd be back soon.

As they left, all the damage done to her was reset, bringing her back to the way she had been before the torture began, preparing her for he next session.

***

As the three demons made it to the entrance/exit of the Fields, they were met by Sebastian who was leaning against the gate.

"Have fun?" The raven demon asked through the bond

"Lots, we'll have to do that again." Ciel answered aloud, then thinking, "Hopefully with you too."

At last, after three days and two nights, the four demons returned to Pride Palace...


	28. The Natural Call

Narrator's POV

A month passed and life in Hell seemed to come to come to a screeching halt as nature began to crawl closer and closer to demon-kind.

Before long, Mating Season would begin.

While demons called it a season, it wasn't an annual event, happening once a decade and lasting a week.

So on this Sunday morning, Ciel was in the game-room playing chess with his aunt while his father and Bella spectated; Bella planning to play against the victor of this match, Vincent having already been beaten by Ciel last round.

Right as the bluenette went to have his room capture Ann's pawn, he grunted in pain and clutches his stomach, beginning to sweat profusely.

"Ciel, what's wrong?" Vincent asked, concerned

"Are you alright?" Ann asked, worried for him

Bella though, wasn't concerned, "Well looks like the fun's starting."

"What?" Vincent and Ann simultaneously asked

"Mating Season started." Bella clarified, but the two still looked confused, "Did we forget to tell you guys about it?"

Ciel began to stand on wobbly legs, but fell to the floor, "Damn it."

In the nick of time, the door opened to reveal Sebastian, who was also beginning to sweat, he promptly pickled Ciel up and left with him.

Once the mates were gone, Bella turned back to the confused demons, "Basically every single demon is going to go into heat/ruts for the next week. It effects mated couples first —since they have the best odds of actually making a baby— and works its way down to the rest of us. Succubi go down first to give incubi a chance to 'find a safe mating place'. We have an hour at most until it starts for us. Find someone to mate with. I'll be spending my week with Taz."

Bella left, first checking in on Lau and Ran-Mao to make sure they knew the drill and then went to Wrath Palace.

***

Meanwhile, Ciel was a mess as he rolled on the bed, trying to feel cool as his heat increased.

He desperately wanted out of his clothes and his incubus within him.

Said incubus was busy peeling off his own layers, throwing them into the corners of the room to clean up next week.

Once he was stripped, he began to do the same to his mate, knowing only skin-to-skin contact would bring the succubus any sort of relief.

The moment the bluenette was bare, he pounced onto the other male, straddling him as their lips crashed together.

Too blinded by instincts to care, the succubus easily handed over control of the kiss.

Before long, the shorter of the two was pinned down and the horizontal waltz began.

***

After around 12 hours of mating, clarity finally returned for the two mates, nature's way of giving them an opportunity to fetch a soul to begin the mating ritual.

Sebastian squeezed Ciel's hand, his way of asking if he wanted to try again.

Ciel shook his head, he didn't want to do the mating ritual for a long time.

***

In their Roanoke apartment, in the late fall of 1975, recently 100 year old Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis stared at the piece of paper in his hands with a smile.

Just a week ago, Ciel had gone to a small clinic dressed up as a girl to get a blood test done and had just received the results in the mail.

His heart fluttered in joy as he read the words near the bottom of the sheet, "Result - Positive."

The cat demon carefully folded the paper and placed it in the photo album for this decade, marking the confirmation of his pregnancy.

In late February of 1976, Ciel looked at his slightly bumped stomach, he was just halfway into his pregnancy —only at the end of his fourth month— where it just looked like he was just over-eating, he wouldn't look pregnant for a few more weeks.

Well, if he went in public that is, in the past three months Sebastian had become even more over-protective than ever, not letting him move on his own even just to sit up in bed.

It made sense why he was being this over protective, seeing that Ciel was rather fragile when pregnant.

But all good things came to an abrupt end the following night, Ciel screaming in pain as he had a miscarriage.

***

In the nearly 102 years they had been mates, Ciel had become pregnant five times and had a miscarriage every single time.

His longest pregnancy had been the one in 1976, at four months, and the shortest had been his first in 1930, which had lasted little over a month.

Neither one of them knew why they were having so much trouble carrying a pregnancy to term, why're it was just the low demon fertility and strict maximum population or whether their bloodlines brought extra problems to the table —Sebastian not knowing his own and Ciel knowing his mother had a hard time carrying him and his aunt loosing her own baby.

But at the end of the day, the only request Ciel had ever made that Sebastian was yet to deliver was the request of a child —the raven demon refused to regard it as a failed request, still having hope.

***

The week passed with little regard, the demons just mating with each other.

Like every decade, maybe a half-dozen of the 5,000ish couples might have conceived but only one or two might carry to term...


	29. Noticed

Narrator's POV

In the human world, a man nearing the cusp of of retirement stood in front of a wall of screens, watching decades of security camera footage.

A light knocking came from the door behind him, "Sir?"

"Yes?" The man asked, turning to face his assistant

"We got a DNA sample from the being we've spotted." She replied, "Not a direct match but a relative match, but we've traced it back to him."

"Who is he?"

"Ciel Phantomhive, the Missing Earl."

"Get the team around the house now!"

***

The Prince of Pride focused his energy on the wall before him, trying to create a temporary portal directly into the human world.

As much as he enjoyed being Prince, Ciel was exhausted of Hell's drab scenery and missed the constantly changing one of the human realm.

And it seemed his entourage agreed, all seven demons in his group wanting out of Hell.

So, he created a portal to the house they were still renting in the human world.

Once all eight demons were through, Ciel let the portal close, his energy feeling a bit drained but otherwise completely fine.

"Where to next?" Ciel asked, wondering what they had thought up on how to spend their time in the human realm

But, before anyone could answer, the window nearest to them shatter as a metal tube was thrown in.

"What the Hell?" Bella muttered, everyone starting at it

The tube them began to release a gas, which Sebastian quickly recognized as Demon Hound Venom, seeing the demons around him collapse to the floor as they fell unconscious.

He barely outlasted the others, almost managing to get close enough to turn it off.

***

In his unconsciousness, Ciel dreamt about another memory filled with agony.

During the February of 1941, Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis stood in the rain in front of a freshly filled grave.

The tomb before him was surrounded by white and pink roses, and it read, 

"Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia McMillan née Midford  
1874 - 1941  
Aged 67 Years  
Mother, Wife, Aunt, Sister, Daughter, Cousin, and Friend.  
"The darkest hour is just before the dawn." -Thomas Fuller"

The funeral had been over for hours, but because he was technically dead, Ciel hadn't been able to attend; so now he paid his respects.

He had even dressed up for her, appearing in the outfit she had last seen him in, when they had danced together before he had left.

Tears dripped down the bluenette's face, mixing with the race pouring down.

The demon could sense his mate nearby, about twenty feet behind him, giving him space to say goodbye.

He pulled at one the roses surrounding her grave, crushing it in his palms, "Now that you're gone the world has lost most of its color."

"Were you happy, Lizzy?" Ciel asked, whispering to the grave that would never reply, "I remember McMillan, he was sweet and at the time I hated him for it. You deserved someone like him, not like me. I heard you were heartbroken after I 'died', you killed some people you thought were responsible for it, you had to be institutionalized for awhile. I'm not worth it, Lizzy, I was always destined to die young. Every time I see something cute I away think about you, you should've seen the dress Sebastian put me in when we got married, you would've loved it. But anyways, enough about me, I hope you're resting now, in peace. I always loved you, Lizzy, and I always will, just not the way you loved me."

The 66 year old demon pulled a bouquet out of nowhere, leaning it against her grave, the blue and pink roses popping out against the pink and white ones.

And that's when the dams around Ciel's heart fell, the soft crying turning into sobbing.

Sebastian heard this and went up to him, holding him close and kissing the top of his head, whispering through their bond, "I'll always be here for you, love."

***

Once out of the dream, Ciel woke up back in the present, handcuffed to a table.

The first thing he noticed was that his clothes had been changed, now he wore a black sweatshirt that was at least two sizes too big for him as well as dark grey sweatpants that had been tied into staying on his hips.

The only things that remained of his organ outfit was his checkered Vans and his crown which he wore as choker.

The demon sat in the darkness for a few minutes before the door on the other side of the room opened to reveal a bald man clearly leaving middle age.

"Ciel Phantomhive." The man said, catching the demon by surprise...


	30. Twenty Questions

Narrator's POV

The cat demon quickly rebounded from the shock, putting a devilish smile on his face, "The one and only."

"Do you know why you're here?" The bald man asked him

"No," Ciel answered, resting his head on his hand, "but I'm guessing you're gonna tell me, Mister?"

"Smith. Director Smith." The man, Director Smith answered

"Might as well call you 'John Doe', John Smith," Ciel mocked, his blue and lavender eyes bleeding into the natural dark red, "Such a liar you are, not even giving your real name. I gotta say, Victor Rossetti isn't that bad of a name."

The man looked shocked, no one knew his real name, but this demon knew if after a glance.

"So, Director Rossetti," Ciel said with a smirk, "tell me, why am I here?"

Clearly I rested, the human sat down in the chair across from Ciel, "You have been arrested by the USSSA, the United States Secret Supernatural Agency. You will be answering my questions."

"Why in Lucifer's name would I do that?" Ciel asked, a blue eyebrow raised and he rested his head in between both hands

"Because your friends have been captured along side you and I will have them killed if you do not comply."

"How do you plan on harming seven demon hardened by Hellfire?"

"With this?" The human said, reaching into his suit jacket and revealing a trainee reapers scythe

Ciel barely concealed a snort, a full-fledge reapers scythe could do little more than slow down a demon and maybe temporarily cause harm —like how Grell's scythe nearly cutoff Sebastian's arm but it quickly grew back—, a trainee's scythe wouldn't do anything but scratch them.

"And what's so special about lil' ol' me?" Ciel asked, mockingly, keeping up with his arrogant persona to make the human underestimate him

"Queen Victoria's Watch Dog, an Aristocrat Of Evil, turned demon." Director Rossetti replied, "Quite a name you made for yourself for the 14-odd years you were human."

"My reputation precedes me." Ciel proudly said, "You've certainly done your homework, Vicky. What else do you know about me?"

The human refused to say, so the demon changed his approach, "Know what? Let's play a game. Let's play Twenty Questions. I'll answer ten of your questions if you answer ten of mine."

The 144 year old demon's eyes fluttered magenta, his pupils going from circles to their cat-like shape, he held out his hand out as far as the handcuffs would let him, "Do we have a deal?"

The bald man thought for a moment but took his extended hand and shook it, "Deal."

"I'll go first." Ciel decided, "What do you plan on doing with us?" 

"The USSSA exists to protect Americans from the monsters hiding in the shadows. You are here to help us learn about your kind." Director Rossetti answered, "How did you become a demon?"

"Some demons possess the ability to turn humans into demons. All I had to do was sell my soul." Ciel answered, half lying and half telling the truth —you died if you lost your soul, in order to become a demon your soul had to be corrupted to inedibility -much like a spirit in the Fields- but taken even further than that—, "How did you know about demons' weakness to Demon Hound Venom?"

"You and your group are not the first demons we've arrested." Director Rossetti informed, "What other weaknesses do demons have?"

"Crosses, Holy Water, prayer, iron and salt." Ciel replied, using stereotypical answers that were completely false, watching as the man made notes, "How did you find us?"

"You've appeared exactly the same on security cameras across the East Coast for the past fifty years. Our facial software tracks that kind of movement." The human shrugged, "Why couldn't we remove your choker?"

"It is my crown, only I can remove it." Ciel answered, though he left out the part where it caused him physical pain to take it off for very long and the only other who could remove it was the Pride demon that killed him, "Where are my personal items?"

"In my office being looked through." Victor answered, "Why do you have a crown?"

"Because I am one of the seven Princes of Hell, the Prince of Pride if you want to be specific." Ciel answered, actually being truthful, smirking as he heard gunshots and screams from the behind the door, the room was soundproof to human ears but not at all go demon ones

Ciel was prevented from asking his sixth question by the door to the room being kicked open to reveal Sebastian, who was dressed identically to Ciel —save for the fact his clothes actually fit him— and his clothes were soaked in blood.

"There you are, love." Sebastian said, walking into the room

"What took you so long?" Ciel asked

"Forgive me, the venom kept me incapacitated for several hours." Sebastian apologized

Ciel nodded and turned back to the human, snapping the handcuffs off of the table and then himself, showing that demons had no weakness to iron and he could've left whenever.

The cat demon turned back to his mate, "Are the humans dead?"

"Yes, except for him." The older demon confirmed

"Good, let's take him with us. It seems our vacation will have to be pushed back a few more days." Ciel said, pouting near the end

Sebastian proceeded to pick the bluenette up and carry him out of the room, the young demon using magic to make the human follow.

Director Rossetti was forced to walk with them, seeing all the corpses scattered around the all of all his agents.

"Where are the others?" Ciel asked through the bond

"Ran-Mao is fetching the personal items and the others and I had split up to look for you." Sebastian answered

"Great, I want a bath, he smelt disgusting." Ciel replied, "Sweatshirts don't suit you."

"I could say the same for you as well as sweatpants." Sebastian said

"If you had it your way you wouldn't see me in anything except my ring, you perv." Ciel shot back, blushed lightly, he did like seeing Sebastian in sweatpants, especially when he worked out topless —his mate worked hard for that eight-pack

"Would you like to be the pot or the kettle, darling?" Sebastian countered, having seen Ciel's thoughts

"I'd be a cuter kettle." Ciel muttered, knowing he was cornered...


	31. Another Way

Narrator's POV

Victor groaned softly as he regained consciousness, his wrists chained above his head.

He looked around, seeing he was in the middle of what seemed to be a throne room, surrounded by eight thrones.

Seven of the eight thrones were filled and about a dozen others loitered around the room, most standing by one of the filled thrones.

Judging by the crowns on sitting seven's heads, he guessed those were the Princes, or five Princes and two Princesses —Ciel sitting among them confirmed it.

The seven rulers were speaking among each other in Latin, which Victor happened to be fluent in due to his job.

"Ego innutum vocantem se et super dignum nostris sensibus aestimamus, et surgens contestatus sum." A dark skinned Prince said (I suggest calling upon each of our subjects and warning them.)

"Certe. Tum quaeram notitia super eos ultra sic coetus." The oriental Princess replied (Indeed. As well as have them search for information over any more groups like this.)

"Daemon enim annorum numquam interpellavit benigna Venatores libra quanta est." A Middle Eastern Prince added (Our kind have dealt with Demon Hunters for millennias but never on this large of a scale.)

"Quod homo experrectus." The blond Prince cut in (The human is awake.)

Both Victor and Ciel looked towards the door, seeing a brunette demon behind a camera.

The camera-demon gave him a thumbs up, prompting Ciel to speak.

"Salve, carus possessoribus inferos, videtur quod non sit species esse in praeteritum paucis decenniis potius confidentes in hominibus. Nos tamen easdem repperisset, at certe, Civitatibus Foederatis Americae imperium." Ciel said to the camera (Good afternoon, dear occupants of Hell, it seems during the past few decades we as a species have been rather careless among humans. We have been discovered by, at least, the United States government.)

Ciel then turned to the human Director, "Now, Rossetti, let's finish our game; I hate leaving games unfinished, you see. But now you don't get any turns and I get as many questions as I wish. Was that the only building the USSSA has?"

Director Rossetti remained silent, refusing to give away secrets, but it seems Ciel had been prepared for that, glancing to Sebastian.

Sebastian caught the hint and jabbed a butter knife between Victor's ribs, careful to avoid a vein, "I do suggest answering the Prince's questions."

"Y-Yes, we didn't have the funding for anything more." Victor said, hanging his head in shame

"What about any agents not present?" The ginger Prince asked him

"All of them were there." Rossetti lied, trying to protect the few that remained

That caused Sebastian to push in another knife in the opposite side, "The truth."

"There were three missing. One on sick leave and the other two on a mission." Rossetti answered, ashamed of himself

"Their names?" The Irish Prince asked, writing down the names given

"Is the USSSA the only supernatural agency in the world? The Latina Princess asked

"Yes, I had to fight just to get the USSSA to become a black ops branch of the government." Rossetti answered, his spirt broken

It all seemed pointless now: his entire life's work down the drain in a single afternoon; nearly all of his fifty agents dead; and no true research gathered.

He brokenly answered the rest of their questions, knowing what was at the end of the road: his death.

But, as the questioning came to a close, he wasn't surprised as death soon arrived.

***

After the interrogation, Ciel and his entourage once gain made their way into the human world.

The eight demons made their way into the first that surrounded Meadowspoint, quickly finding a small field.

Vincent and Ann went on a walk together, presumably to talk; Lau and Ran-Mao wondered off as well, though knowing the man it was probably to learn more about the pharmaceuticals of the modern age.

And that left Ciel, Sebastian and Bella in the field.

Seeing that it was around midnight, the stars were fully out.

Ciel chuckled at that, he had almost forgotten what the night sky looked like without pollution dimming them.

He laid down in the grass, stargazing, Sebastian laying beside him and entwining their fingers while Bella laid about a foot away.

"What would you have named me? If my dear brother hadn't been a dumbass and left me asleep?" 

“What do you mean?” Ciel asked, confused

“Raven and I are a pack, so if I hadn’t been asleep I would’ve been there when you two began your contract. What would you have named me?” Bella clairified 

Ciel turned to face her, examining her face for a moment before saying, "Sophronia."

"Sophronia Michaelis, I could've lived with that." Bella mused

"Better than the name of a dog." Sebastian commented

Bella was confused for a moment before it dawned on her and she began to laugh, "Oh Ciel, you didn't!"

Ciel giggled a bit, "I did and he's been bitter about it ever since."

"If you two went the only ones I like, I'd strangle you both." Sebastian muttered

"Oh hush, Raven, Sebastian is the most flattering name you've gotten from a contractor. Remember the one you got from King Henry? Giles. That was so unflattering." Bella said to her brother, "But I think it would've been a lot of fun if I had been a part of your contract. Imagine me as the head maid."

"I imagine you would have called me out on my denial." Sebastian said

~~~Sebastian's Mind~~~What If~~~

In November of 1889, Ms. Sophronia Michaelis hummed softly, deeply in thought, as she dusted the manor with Mey-Rin, finishing before the other maid entered the room.

Giving the red headed girl a smile, Sophronia left the room to tend to her other responsibilities.

Heading to the kitchen, Sophronia used her super-hearing to make sure her brother was alone and entered the room.

Seeing him making a snack for their Young Master, she stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

"You think you have everybody fooled, don't you?" Sophronia confronted, not even giving him a chance to reply, "Well not me, brother, I've known you too long and no matter how hard you try to deny it I can tell you care as much about him as he cares about you. That little, persistent human has somehow gotten in under the walls. Admit the truth, you love him don't you."

"It doesn't matter." The butler said, not looking at her while he poured the batter into its mold, "He is engaged."

"To a girl anyone with eyes and half a brain can tell he cares little about." Sophronia countered, "And it's obvious that he cares about you too. His eyes light up and his heart rate increases whenever you enter the room. All you need to do is walk into his office and bare your heart to him, I already know he feels the same and the three of us could ditch this place."

"He wouldn't want to leave, he wants his revenge."

"Puh-lease, as of late I've been the only one making more than minimal progress towards that goal. Neither one of you want it anymore, you both want each other. I'll take over watching this cake and when I bring it in there, you two better have confessed your love to each other."

"Bella-" Sebastian began to argue before being cut off

"No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I'll even be nice and brew a potion to turn him while I wait for this cake. GO!"

Sebastian gave in and walked out of the kitchen and up to Ciel's office.

Satisfied with her brother's progress, Sophronia began to make the potion, not using a caldron over a fire as she would've liked but a stockpot over the stove to avoid suspicion.

About two hours later, the cake was cooled and iced and the potion was finally done as she bottled it up and cleaned up the mess.

Putting the potion into her apron pocket, she grabbed the tray holding the dessert and walked to Ciel's office.

She silently opened the door and smiled as she took in the sight before her: the two love birds hugging.

Not wanting to interrupt but knowing she had to, she said, "It seems like you two have had a lot to talk about."

Ciel's face was heavily covered in a blush and Sebastian had a rare actual smile on his face.

"So, do you two have a exit plan or do you want to use mine?" Sophronia asked

"What's your idea?" Ciel asked

"I'll run to London late tonight and see if Undertaker has three 'customers' matching our heights and use them to fake our deaths. You'll act like you want to go to London tomorrow and all of us, the other servants included, will head there in the carriage. Tomorrow's forecast says heavy storms so the carriage will happen to blow over and dump us down the mountain and into the river."

"Why take them?" Ciel asked

"Because, you'll be ravenous by tomorrow after you turn and we're hungry as well." Sebastian explained, understanding her plan

Fishing the potion out of her pocket, Sophronia handed it to Ciel, "Drink every drop."

Ciel didn't hesitate to, not even stopping to breathe as he downed the whole potion.

The demons watched as the human's perfectly blue soul corrupted and twisted into it turned him into a demon.

The Earl's sapphire eye flashed red then magenta, showing the potion worked perfectly.

"Congratulations, Young Master," Sophronia smiled, "you've joined our little club."

***

The next morning, the now three demons in the manor acted as if nothing had changed.

As the head servant, Sebastian informed the others that they were heading to London as per the Young Master's wishes with Tanaka and Snake staying behind to watch the Manor.

Since the Young Master had a wardrobe at the Town House, nothing was brought and the three lesser servants sat outside the carriage to make sure the horses went the right way while the two head servants and the Earl remained within the carriage.

An hour passed and the storm began, Sebastian signaling the servants to stop the carriage.

Once the carriage was stopped, Sebastian told them to come into the carriage.

When all six people were within the small carriage, each demon facing the servant that would be their meal.

The two older demons looked to the youngest one that was sitting between them, servant etiquette said that the Master always eats first after all.

Ciel was nervous, knowing all eyes were on him, mentally going over Sebastian's explanation from last night.

The new demon made eye contact with Finny, focusing on the purple soul within him and breathing in, drawing it within him.

Mey-Rin and Bard both were taken by surprised as the purple smoke left Finny's lips and made its way towards Ciel's.

Once the gardener's soul was eaten, Sebastian and Sophronia turned to the remaining humans and devoured their souls as well.

Now fed, the demons began to stage their deaths.

First, Ciel was undressed and magically dressed in the less attention-grabbing dress than he had worn at the Viscount's Party, this one made for a poorer person.

The dress had a white blouse and a cyan skirt.

Pigtails were clipped on and his bangs moved to cover his eyepatch, Sebastian having put him in the corset earlier in the morning.

Once in a new outfit, the small corpse Sophronia had fetched last night was dressed in Ciel's clothes, the other two already dressed in spare uniforms.

The corpse's faces were already disfigured and placed into the carriage, which was pushed off the cliff and tumbled down the edge, stopping a half-dozen feet from the river.

The carriage door was opened and the three bodies that would be theirs were tossed into the river, to be reported later by whoever found for them.

Mey-Ron's body was splayed out right near the edge of the water and Bard's halfway out the carriage.

It would seem like they had all either drowned or died on impact.

Going back into the road above them, the demons began to walk to London to reach the portal to Hell when Sophronia looked at the others, "This is where we part ways. Ciel Phantomhive, I break off my contract to you."

Ciel was slightly disappointed that she was leaving but understood that she wanted out, it said in their core contract that they couldn't make over contracts while contracted to him.

He felt his contract-sealed eye tingle as her mark left him and Sebastian's took over the whole eye.

After all, Sebastian had told him that when more than one demon was contracted to the same person, all of them could get out except one who had to remain.

Sebastian hadn't been upset though, he didn't mind being contracted to Ciel forever, he could still make deals just not contracts.

Sophronia kissed Ciel's forehead and Sebastian's cheek and bid them goodbye and hoped their paths would cross soon, she then ran faster than the rain fell in the opposite direction, going to the other side of England.

Meanwhile, the new couple ran towards London just as fast.

~~~Back to Reality~~~

"It would've been fun." Ciel smiled, watching the stars...


	32. Tea and Tentative Trust

Narrator's POV

On a spring —though you couldn't really tell in Hell— afternoon, Ciel was in his office doing some paperwork regarding the problems Pride Demons faced when he opened a letter he had received.

"Dear Ciel,

I would like to talk sometime over tea about an idea I've had. I'm free whenever you want to talk and we can have it at your palace or mine.

With love, Alois xoxo."

The cat demon resisted the urge to just rip it up and act like it hadn't been in his stack of paperwork, but he remembered the fact Alois had sent him wrong least twelve invitations to his costume ball just to make sure he came when they were human.

Ciel supposed he might as well meet with the blond, they had been avoiding each other for the past few months.

His reply contained only 5 words, "My Palace. Tomorrow at noon."

***

Noon arrived very quickly for the demons and before the Prince of Pride knew it he was in his palace's gardens, sitting at a table across from Alois Trancy having tea.

"This afternoon's tea is Earl Grey Créme served with white chocolate macarons." Sebastian said, pouring the two Princes tea

Ciel picked up one of the macarons, each one hand painted with food coloring to creature floral designs, placing it on his plate as he spoke, "Why did you wish to speak with me, Alois?"

Alois dropped a sugar cube into his tea as he began, "I was doing a bit of reading-"

"I wasn't aware he could read." Sebastian joked through the mating bond

Ciel swallowed down a chuckle with his sip of tea as Alois spoke, unaware of the mocking.

"-and I read that Hell hasn't two new Princes occur in the same decade in centuries. And I thought, 'there's no better way to celebrate than with a plague'." Alois said, taking a nibble of a macaron when he finished

"Is there not already a pandemic going on in the human realm?" Ciel asked, the eyebrow not covered by his bangs rose

"I realized that, but it made me realize that the reapers are probably dealing with overtime right now. So, if we craft a Bubonic Plague 2.0 and threaten to release it in the human realm, they might be willing to negotiate with us." Alois answered

Ciel pondered that: reapers usually turned a blind eye when demons snatched away the worst souls of the yellow variety; and during the Black Plague —the one Sebastian had been a part of spreading— had been a show of power against the reapers, a way of saying that our kind was superior to theirs and a way to steal millions of souls from them —those souls still being found in the Market nearly eight hundred years later.

But to threaten them with it again, especially when they were already overworked, that would definitely buy them power to get access to better souls, perhaps all the way to the slightly below mediocrity of red.

Ciel smirked devilishly as he placed his teacup back on its saucer, "Do go on."

***

Bella watched the meeting occur from an upstairs window.

The plant demon sighed, accidentally catching the attention of Vincent who was playing chess with Ann.

"What's the matter?" Vincent asked his friend

"Do you have siblings?" Bella asked seemingly out of nowhere

"I had a sister." Vincent replied softly

Bella gave a sad look, "I hate being caught in the middle of a fight. My brothers have been fighting for nearly six hundred years and I'm sick of it. They won't talk to each other unless they're forced to work together or trying to kill each other."

Vincent looked down to the meeting below, seeing his son-in-law and Envy's Consort glaring at each other.

***

About an hour later, the tray of macarons had been devoured and nearly all of the tea was gone, but the Princes of Pride and Envy still found themselves deep in discussion about their plan to trick the reapers and the fake disease they would craft.

They listed the symptoms of the original plague and crossed out the ones they wanted to get rid of and wrote the ones they wanted to add.

By the time they were done, they still felt unsatisfied with the finished product.

"How crafted the original plague?" The blond prince asked the bluenette

Ciel related the question to his mate through their bond.

"I believe Rat was the one who created the plague at the request of former Princes of Wrath and Sloth." Sebastian answered aloud, his head turning towards his mate but his gaze never leaving Spider

"I recall that Rat has already passed. Though his apprentice is still alive and might have his notes regarding it." Claude countered, still making eye contact with his brother

"Who's his apprentice?" Alois asked

"Carrot." Claude answered...


	33. Patient Zero

Narrator's POV

In his nearly 1000 years of life, Carrot couldn't recall the last time he'd been summoned by any of the Princes.

It had been about 600 years since he had even been near a Prince, and that had only been because his sire had been requested by two Princes to create the Black Plague.

But Rat has been dead for about 300 years, killed by a reaper in retaliation for his creation.

But currently, the dark green haired demon made his way to the Grand Palace.

As he walked into the throne room, it was exactly as he remembered it, only the Princes seated upon the thrones were different —with an exception to Lust's Prince, who had been seated there last time he had been.

"You summoned me, your majesties?" Carrot asked with a slight bow

"Yes, we are aware that your sire had the rare ability to craft diseases and thus created the Plague. Is it true that you share that trait?" Gluttony's Prince asked

"Indeed, I too can craft them." Carrot answered

"Then we'd like to commission you to create another." Wrath's Prince said

"Of course." Carrot replied, it had been far too long since he put his skills to use, "My own blend or do you have requests?"

"We have a few." Envy's Prince answered, holding a sheet of paper towards him

Carrot took it from him and glanced it over.

"How soon could you have it ready?" Pride's Prince asked

"I can have it ready by the end of the week." Carrot informed

"Good." Pride's Prince replied, "Bring it to my Palace Sunday morning."

"I'll see to it." Carrot assured

"Do not disappoint us." Greed's Prince warned

"We have high hopes for you." Lust's Prince added

"Good luck." Sloth's Prince said ominously

***

Once the disease crafter was gone, the Prince's began to dosing up their meeting.

"I will get our 'Patient Zero' if you set up the meeting with the reapers." Ciel said to Alois

"Deal." Alois agreed

"Then we'll leave it to you to make Hell proud." Taz chuckled

***

Pushing her cart through the supermarket on a Thursday afternoon, Nancy Miller made her way into the baking aisle.

As she turned into the aisle, she came across the Michaelis' seemingly midway into turning their cart around, their cart blocking most of the aisle.

Ciel was seated in the cart, his legs hanging out as he was seemingly trying to catch his father's attention; he wore a white T-shirt that read 'Not Today Satan' in a floral font and dark jean shorts.

He also had on his eyepatch and beige sneakers, as well as a rather odd anklet.

Sebastian has turned to face her, ignoring his son as he turned the cart; he wore a pain white T-shirt, a black leather jacket and matching gloves as well as dark wash jeans and beige sneakers.

"Oh, hello, Nancy." Sebastian greeted, stopping his cart next to hers

"H-Hello, Sebastian, how nice to see you." Nancy greeted, reaching towards some boxed chocolate cake mix —Tyler's twelfth birthday was Monday after all

"The boxed stuff is no good, homemade is much better. I could show you, if you want." Sebastian said, practically purring

"I'm free tonight if you are." Nancy replied, her face covered in a blush

"Tonight it is. See you in a bit." Sebastian confirmed with a smirk, pushing his cart away

***

Around five o'clock, Nancy parked in the Michaelis' driveway, getting out of her car and knocking on the door.

The stay-at-home order had finished up after all, so she could come over without issue.

Tyler was currently with his father for the weekend, so she was alone on this Saturday night.

Knocking on the door, it was once again opened by Ciel, who opened the door and let her in.

"Daddy, Nancy's here!" Ciel shouted, plopping down on the couch where the tv was paused on what seemed to be Minecraft.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Sebastian to appear in the living room and greet her.

Nancy was quickly led into a kitchen where ingredients were already laid out.

The tutorial seemed to fly by with Sebastian putting the batter in the mold but a glance at the clock said that it had been twenty minutes since it began.

While the cake was in the oven, Sebastian's opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"I shouldn't, I have to drive home." Nancy denied bashfully

"Stay the night?" Sebastian seductively asked

Nancy took the offered glass with a blush and simply held it as he poured the wine.

They clinked their glasses together and drank.

***

During the twenty five minutes the cake would need to bake, Nancy and Sebastian continued to drink and talk.

"What's taking so long?" Ciel asked through the bond, bored of the act

"It's seems the GHB is taking awhile." Sebastian replied, having crushed the pills and mixed them in the wine

Demons weren't effected by human pharmaceuticals —something Lau has quickly realized— and as a result, Sebastian felt completely fine from the drugged wine.

But Nancy couldn't say the same, beginning to feel nauseous but blaming that on the few glasses of wine she had.

Before long, the cake was freed from the oven and left to cook on the cooling rack waiting in the nearly empty fridge.

As Sebastian prepared the ganache topping for the cake as well as the chocolate buttercream, he heard a smack behind him as Nancy passed out and hit her head on the floor.

The raven demon didn't even blink at the collapsed woman, just glancing to his mate who had entered the room.

Ciel climbed onto the counter beside the stove and smirked down at the unconscious woman.

"If I didn't know better, love, I'd say your eye is green with envy." Sebastian said, pouring the heated cream into the bowl of chopped chocolate

Ciel didn't reply, just pulling on Sebastian's shirt to pull him close enough to crash their lips together.

They kissed for several moments before Sebastian parted, "Jealousy doesn't suit you, darling, my heart belongs solely to you."

Ciel pouted at the accusation and then blushed at the sweet words processing to steal the spatula out of the frosting bowl and licking it.

Sebastian just shook his head at that and began to ice the cake, the covering the top with the ganache and add some aesthetic swirls of buttercream on top as well as a few tasteful raspberries since they in season.

Sebastian then cut a slice of the cake and presented it to his mate, knowing it was his favorite.

He then went to lock their prisoner in the prepared room for tomorrow...


	34. The Sapphire Choker

Narrator's POV

In a rented botanical garden in London, Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis found himself sitting at a table beside Alois Trancy.

Both Princes were a few minutes early to the meeting, which meant there would be no traps for the reaper's to lay out for them.

It didn't take much longer for the reapers to arrive, to which there were five of them.

The first reaper was one Sebastian had hoped to never see again: Grell Sutcliff.

The redhead reaper's entire look had changed since they last time they had crossed paths.

Firstly, it seemed the reaper had gone through gender reassignment and was physically the woman she had always claimed to be.

She was actually dressed modestly for once in her life, wearing a striped dress shirt and black slacks and her hair tastefully curled —the only sign of her love of red being on her acrylic nails, her heels and her glasses.

Ciel didn't even to look to know his mate's neutral face gained a frown as he was noticed by the reaper, "BASSY!"

The red reaper lunged for the raven demon, stopped only by the death scythe Of the second reaper.

William T. Spears' death scythe reeled back in once Grell was on the floor.

This reaper was exactly the same since Ciel had last seen him, his hair styled in the same way and a same suit dressed him.

The only change was minuscule and would have been easy to miss if he hadn't been looking but on the stoic reaper's left hand was a rose gold wedding band.

And a quick glance towards Grell showed the matching ring, though here's was topped with a ruby.

The third reaper was Mey-Rin, who wore a simple white blouse and black pencil skirt and matching Mary Janes.

The final two reapers Ciel didn't recognize, but guessed they were higher-ups.

The bluenette was quickly proved correct as the unknown reapers sat across from them while the other three stood behind them.

Alois leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the table, "I assume you know we wished to speak to you."

"We do, you claim that you wish to negotiate." The reaper that was physically the oldest said, "Cal down your dogs here and send away the ones outside."

"I don't think you're in a position to make demands." Ciel said, snapping, causing the door to open and another demon walk in dragging along a chained human

"What's a human got to do with anything?" The other seated reaper asked

"My associate will fill you in on that." Ciel ominously smirked, then finding to the green haired demon, "Carrot, if you will."

"I believe all of you are familiar with the Bubonic Plague? What I have created began with that recipe in mind, but has become the most brilliant of creations. I call it 'the Sapphire Choker'. And our participant here will demonstrate the disease's symptoms at an accelerated pace." Carrot explained, taking the gag out of the woman's mouth

Nancy immediately began to scream for help and for them to free her.

"Oh shut up." Carrot muttered as he pushed a pill into her mouth

She tried to spit it out so he covered her mouth and nose, forcing her to swallow.

For a moment, it seemed nothing happened, but then the accelerated symptoms began.

The woman immediately began coughing roughly, eventually blood coming out as well.

Next, she began sweating profusely while shivering.

Following that she kneeled over in pain, clutching her stomach in agony as she fell.

That's when the gangrene began, starting with arms and legs, making its way up the limbs and body, leaving the once tan flesh the color of charcoal with its greys and blacks.

But, the gangrene took a strange turn as it approached the neck, turning the flesh a dark blue instead, making the veins bulge.

The veins contained to bulge, the womb gasping for air as they continued to grow and construct her airways until they popped, spraying the reapers and demons with a mixture of blood and black pus.

Pushing the corpse aside, Carrot continued to speak, "The disease is spread both through bodily fluids as I just demonstrated as well as through the air. Unaccelerated, it would have taken 12 hours for the first symptom to appear and kills within the following 12 hours. As a result, it can be easily spread to thousands in a single afternoon."

"That will be all, Carrot." Alois said, dismissing the disease crafter

As the green haired demon made his exit, Ciel spoke, "As you can see, we can easily sent your kind into heavy overtime if we release the disease among the human realm. All six populated continents effected in a single day. But if you agree to my terms we'll just lock it away."

The Heads of the English Chapter Of Grim Reapers gulped, they had been chosen to deal with the demons for this meeting.

"What are your terms?" One asked

"We want free access to all souls from low-mediocre to low quality in addition to the souls of our contractors." Ciel explained, "As well as any reaper interfering with such process to face punishment. It's no secret our species hate each other. So let's just steer clear. We'll leave you to your souls if you leave us to ours."

“That’s a third of the human population!” The high-up reaper exclaimed

“Yes, so I would recommend doing as we say.” Alois said

“We’d have to discuss with the other branches.” The other reaper pointed out

“I thought so.” Ciel said, “So we’re giving you three days to think about it before we release the Sapphire Choker.”

“And the countdown starts now!” Alois giggled

“Send us a letter with your choice.” Ciel added as the reapers began to leave...


	35. The Night Before

Narrator's POV

The night before the meeting with the reapers, Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis found himself sitting in the spare bedroom inside of the house he was renting.

Chained to the wall in front of him was Nancy Miller, still knocked out from the drugs Sebastian had tricked her into ingesting.

Less than an hour passed before the woman began to rouse, groaning lightly as she was freed from the unconsciousness.

The first thing Nancy saw as her eyes fluttered open was the smug face of Ciel.

"C-Ciel?" Nancy asked, her head still pounding, "H-Help."

Ciel didn't say anything for a few moments before smirking, "Nah."

"Nancy, you have been chosen for a very special cause." Ciel said, "You are going to be an example."

"Ciel, honey, please help me get out of these chains." Nancy tried, not full grasping what he was saying and trying to appeal to the teen's sense of humanity

"I'm not letting you go." Ciel replied

"Y-Your Father is sick mentally. He kidnapped me, h-help me get down and we can get away from him." Nancy desperately said

"Listen you daft woman. He kidnapped you because I told him to." Ciel deadpanned, before chuckling slightly, having decided to mess with her, "My Daddy always does what I tell him."

The woman's jaw dropped as she began to grasp what was going on: Ciel was the mastermind behind this.

Of course, that wasn't the full story but as far as she was concerned, she had been kidnapped by a boy who had gotten his father obsessed with him.

"Of course, that first required getting Mother out of the way and a divorce would've ended with her getting custody of me so she simply had to go. So Daddy got us in a car accident that killed her. We got hurt in the process but that's fine." Ciel lied, touching his eyepatch at the end, crafting a demented version of reality for her to believe

"But you, Nancy, crossed the line when you decided to flirt with my Daddy." Ciel said, kicking her knee, "You actually thought he could be interested in boring old you when I'm around?"

And that's when Nancy noticed the chain around Ciel's neck, usually the end of it was hidden under his shirt but now it was out in the open.

It was a silver ring with a sapphire on it surrounded by two smaller gems: a ruby and an amethyst.

It was probably his Mother's wedding ring, now a bastardized symbol of the new relationship between the father and son.

Ciel noticed her gaze and giggled dementedly, "I'm Daddy's new wife."

"It was tough to get this far, though, I had to turn Daddy against Mother, then get him obsessed with me and convince him to kill her. Have you ever heard of Pavlov's Dog? I studied him for a school project and did the same thing to him. I conditioned him to associate bad things with Mother and good things with me." Ciel laughed, "There was a bump though when Mother found out about us but that did nothing but accelerate our plans to kill her, we tricked her into thinking we were going to family therapy to get over our 'Oedipus Complex'."

"W-What are you going to do to me?" Nancy asked, terrified

"I told you, you're going to be an example. I think it's sexy when Daddy kills people for me, so obviously I'll have to condition him into that too." Ciel shrugged, only half lying about that —he had always found Sebastian defending him sexy

And that's when Sebastian entered the room, his face neutral.

The older demon had been listening in the entire time, very amused with the tale Ciel had woven; such a kinky mate he had.

"I thought you said that exhibitionism was a fetish you never wanted to try?" Sebastian asked through the bond

"I've reconsidered, though it's not like I can make a habit out of it with how possessive you are." Ciel replied through the bond

"I just don't like others seeing what belongs to me." Sebastian replied, beginning to strip Ciel

Once bare, Ciel got back on the bed, his head on the edge of the bed feet were supposed to go, two pillows already placed strategically under his head and hips.

Sebastian quickly stripped as well, getting on top of his mate as they began to make love.

***

Back in Hell, Belladonna was not in Pride Palace nor Wrath Palace, no, tonight she found herself in Envy Palace.

Currently, she sat in the garden with her estranged brother and his mate.

Bella wanted her family back together, but first she needed to get her brothers back on civil terms with each other.

It was very ironic to her that both of her brothers were in a permanent contract with the person that become their mate, and that chances were that the three of the were going to Princes’ Consorts and not Princes.

***

In the reaper’s dimension, inside on of the many apartment complexes, was the Spears Apartment.

It had been a long day today collecting souls around England, but now they could wind down for the night.

And since they would be accompany the Heads to a meeting with demons tomorrow, it was going to be a long day again.

Now in his white and blue striped pajamas, William was taken out of thought when his cheeks were pinched.

“Oh, Darling, so cute when you’re tired.” Grell lovingly said, also in her pink nightgown

The stoic reaper didn’t move as his wife pinched his cheeks, letting her have her fun.

They both expressed love in different way, her with physical touch and him with spending time with each other.

“Relax, Willy, we aren’t working right now.” Grell softly said, pecking his cheek as she went to their bedroom

With a half smile, he followed her.

***

As morning broke back on Earth, Ciel woke in his mate’s embrace, smelling the familiar cinnamon scent he always gave off.

But something was off, that scent was stronger than usual.

Moving slightly he realized that scent was also coming from the hallway...there were cinnamon rolls in the oven!

Sebastian noticed that he had awakened and kissed him, “Morning, love, breakfast is ready whenever you are.”

“Perfect.” Ciel yawned, noticing Nancy was awake as well, “Well let’s get this show on the road.”...


	36. Th Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian’s coffee order is based off a Starbucks horror story I saw on Tumblr from Reddit. 
> 
> Also this is mostly a fluffy chapter since I miss going out and about so I’m going to be living through them.

Narrator's POV

Two days after the meeting, Ciel received a answer from the Reapers.

Ciel read through the letter, making sure to read every word for a double meaning, but by the end he was satisfied with the answer: they accepted.

The Prince of Pride then wrote to the other Princes, telling them of their success and for them to spread the word to their subjects.

The cat demon then wrote to Carrot, telling him that he wouldn’t be needing to begin plague preparations to spread the disease.

Finally, Ciel made a announcement to the Pride Demons, telling them of what he had earned for their kind, about the higher level of souls they were now entitled to —it was very easy to say Ciel was very well liked by the occupants of Hell.

So, Ciel decided it was time to relax and celebrate his accomplishment with his Inner Circle.

***

The temporary portal from Hell opened in a New York City alleyway.

Instantly, Ciel was greeted by the smells of the city, his super-human nose picking up on even the slightest smells.

The most obvious smell being the garbage from the can about ten feet away, then the pleasant smell of coffee from the nearby café, then the smell of pretzels from what seemed to be a street vendor, next was the smell of pizza from a nearby restaurant and finally the smell of smoke likely from cigarettes.

The smells were almost strangely comforting, it smelled familiar to Ciel, probably since he lived here for fifteen of the fifty years he’d been in America.

First, they went to said café which was Starbucks.

It was fairly busy on this sunny weekend, so that gave Ciel a chance to explain the drinks to his circle, explaining each type of drink, the sizes and giving them examples he thought they might like.

So when they got to the cashier, they ordered their drinks:

Ciel got his usual Venti London Fog Latte, Bella ordered a Venti Pink Drink, Ann decided to try the a Grande Strawberry and Creme Frappuccino, Vincent was curious about the Grande Iced Caramel Macchiato and Lau and Ran Mao would be sharing a Venti Dragon Drink.

After they ordered, their drinks totaled over $30, mostly because of the abomination Sebastian ordered.

The raven demon rarely indulged in human foods and drinks, mostly because he couldn’t taste it, but occasionally he ordered coffee since he could faintly taste the bitterness of it.

And the poor barista took a double take as he ordered his own drink.

“Sir, do you mean a venti espresso frappuccino or latte?” The barista asked, making sure she wasn’t hearing what she was hearing

“No, I want you to fill a venti cup with espresso.” Sebastian explained

“Oh. Ok. I need to tell you, sir, that the shots will get very bitter while they wait for me to make twenty of them.” The barista informed, still shocked

“Taste means nothing to me.” Sebastian nonchalantly replied

Between two baristas, it didn’t take long to make their drinks after the initial horror, but before long the seven demons were back on the sidewalk walking around.

***

The group spent the day exploring New York, going to various art museums of both traditional and contemporary types and various shops, ending the day at Broadway watching Hamilton.

It was great fun for the entire group, it was still strange though.

Four of the seven demons in the group died during the Victorian Era and now suddenly were a living in the modern world, unlike Bella who rebounded rather quickly who was used to the constant shift among humans, they were still recovering from the massive whiplash.

***

As the group prepared to leave New York and return to Hell, Bella announced she wouldn’t be going back with them.

Everyone except Sebastian was slightly shocked, but her brother had been waiting for it.

"I'm not a houseplant, Kitty, I want to get back in the loop of things and now that you and Raven are settled I can go." Bella softly said, “As all as there’s a summons I’m going to work towards my next meal.”

So, the silver eyed demon kissed her brother’a cheek and her brother-in-law’s forehead and bid them and the others the traditional demon’s farewell, “Viae nostrae rursus semel transire ad.” (Until our paths cross again.)

With that, Bella ran into the shadows, shadow jumping across New York to wait for the next desperate human to call upon a demon.

It never took long for demons to be called upon, but Bella seemed to be right on time, answering a call made around three hours later.

For the foreseeable future, she would be busy helping her new Master achieve his three wishes under the name Narcissa Burton to get his purple soul...


	37. Bitter Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t hate me.

Narrator's POV

Within the realm of the Grim Reapers, one of the Heads of the British Branch was pissed.

Brian Duke, the younger of the two reapers that had 'negotiated' with the demons, had a plan to recover from that massive failure.

In the past few days he had studied everything the libraries within his realm had on demons as he formulated his plan.

And that's when he discovered Hell's hierarchy and how Princes were easily interchangeable.

So, he would need to strike a deal with a group of demons, including at least one Pride demon, and get rid of that meddling Prince —the one in the eyepatch was clearly the ringleader and the blond had been following along.

And demons, naturally being a greedy bunch, he quickly hired a team of about thirty of them —six of them having Pride as their sin.

He promised them dozens of high quality souls apiece and one of them would be getting Pride's crown.

***

Ciel laughed as he opened the portal into Hell, Lau having made a joke about how opium dens were less polluted than New York City.

Because he had been laughing when he made the portal, the destination was slightly off, not appearing in the throne room of Pride Palace but about a hundred feet from the front door.

It wasn't really an inconvenience though, they just continued to talk and joke around as they traveled towards the door.

***

Weirdly, as Sebastian opened the door, all the lights were out in the room, leaving it in complete darkness.

But thanks to their natural night vision, it was still easy to see as Sebastian busied himself turning the lights back on.

By the time the lights were back on, the group of demons were surrounded by demons that emerged from the fading shadows, pushed out of their hiding spots.

The six demons were immediately outnumbered five to one as they began to fight the intruders.

About twenty minutes passed, eighteen of the intruders were dead and twelve were still alive.

Ciel found himself fighting by his throne, stabbing the nearest attacker in the neck —most of his group doing similarly, knocking the number down to a more manageable six.

He turned to the next one that approached him, not noticing the demon behind him.

But his mate noticed, barely having enough time to push Ciel out of the way, taking the blow himself.

The stab that would have gotten Ciel’s heart landed in Sebastian’s stomach —also a fatal blow.

Blood dripped out of the wounded demon’s mouth as he stabbed his attacker, killing him.

With all of the thirty attackers dead, Sebastian collapsed to the floor, nearly all of his energy depleted.

Ciel gasped as he noticed the giant wound, falling to his knees and cradling his mate’s head in his lap, barely managing to say “Sebastian” in his shock.

Sebastian weakly smiled up at his mate, groaning in pain every few words, "I love you, my kitten, more than words could ever hope to describe. Thank you for giving me the best years of my life. My only regret is that I have failed to keep three of my promises."

Ciel was already in tears, trying to will the wound into healing, but failing as wounds caused by demon swords never healed.

The last thing he saw was his mate, the raven demon's thin eyes then fluttered softly closed as he lost his strength, having used what was left of it in his goodbye.

The shuddering rise and fall of the taller demon's chest slowly came to a complete stop as his heart finally stopped.

And with the finally beat of Sebastian's heart, came the snapping of both the mating and contract bonds.

That's when Ciel screamed.

Tears shone like diamonds as they rolled down the bluentte's cheeks and onto the cooling body below.

In the tile in front of him, Ciel caught a sight that made his tears flow even heavier: heterochromatic blue and lavender eyes didn't stare back at him, two sapphire eyes did.

That truly broke the final straw, cementing the fact his mate was gone: both of their bonds were gone without a trace —Sebastian's tattoo on his hand gone as well.

And, the cruelest bit of nature occurred, the same biological response to death every demon had: the dead demon's body began to turn into ash and that ash disappeared.

All that was left behind was Sebastian's silver wedding band...


	38. Memory Lane

Narrator's POV

Sebastian Michaelis was dead, leaving behind a mournful sister and a shattered widow.

Bella arrived to the palace a mere hour after she felt the sibling bond break, and as a result she was the only person Ciel allowed to be near him.

Ciel hadn't left bed in days, he spent each day the same way: he'd wake up and cry himself back to sleep.

Sebastian had been the only constant in Ciel's life, his rock, and now...now he was gone.

***

Bella softly made her way out of the Master Bedroom in Pride Palace, leaving her brother-in-law to rest after he tired himself out.

She made it barely two steps out of the room before collapsing on the floor, having run out of tears to cry, dry sobbing as she pulled herself back up.

Her oldest brother was gone, that was a thought so weird to think, for her entire life she had thought he would outlive her, she never imagined she would be the one to outlive him.

And worst of all, she blamed herself: if she had been there when they had been attacked she would've had his back, he wouldn't have needed to sacrifice himself.

***

Weeks passed the exact same way, by now Bella seemed to at least be calm externally, but the same couldn't be said for Ciel.

He still wouldn't leave bed, not for anything in the world, the only time he had gotten up was to go to his closet and grab the leather jacket Sebastian always wore except on that final day.

Ciel wrapped himself in the jacket, in the familiar cinnamon and pine scent and hadn't gotten up since.

***

About two months after her brother's death, Bella noticed the slightest shift in Ciel's behavior.

When she went to sit with him, she noticed the blade hidden under his pillow and the blood stains on his sheets.

Immediately fearing he was plotting suicide, she brewed a potion she never had before.

The potion was a mix of a submission potion and a strength potion and would effectively put someone else in control of his body to make sure he didn't take action to end his life.

But, that came at a cost, the person he had him drink the potion would unwillingly be forced to watch his memories.

And since memories were such a precious and private thing, she asked Vincent to be the one to have Ciel drink it, knowing he had his son's best interests at heart.

They tricked the brunette into thinking the potion was a numbing potion so he could have a few hours of relief, getting him to drink it.

Once it was gone, Vincent found his consciousness puked into Ciel's mind.

Vincent shook slightly as he was forced to watch his son's memories.

***

The first few minutes were actually very pleasant, going down memory lane of when the they had been a happy family.

But then that time was over, being forced to watch as ten year old Ciel discovered his and his wife's corpses, how he was kidnapped by the attackers and subsequently sold to a cult.

Ciel sat silently in the darkness of the cage, the room itself dark as it wasn't in use.

"Are you still here?" A quiet voice whispered behind him

Ciel jumped slightly in fear and turned around, seeing one of the other boys talking to him.

There were a total of four lambs on the boy's cage: two of them seemed absolutely broken, their eyes staring blankly at the blanket covering their cage; one was Ciel; and the final was the speaker.

The boy who spoke seemed to be slightly older or just simply taller than the bluenette; his messy black hair greasy from the week he had been here, his amber eyes filled with fight.

Vincent quickly noticed that he looked exactly like what he imagined Sebastian looked like as a child.

"W-What?" Ciel asked, also whispering

"I asked if you were still here. You are, you haven't broken yet." The other boy whispered, "I'm Zevachiah Cain. Tell me, what's your name?"

"I'm Ciel, Ciel Phantomhive." Ciel answered

"Hi, Ciel, we need to plot our escape." Zevachiah said

The boys then spent some time figuring out how much of their bodies they found stick out of the cages before getting stuck, trying to see if they could manage to slip out.

Zevachiah, who Ciel nicknamed Zev, was tall and stocky, barely managing to get a shoulder out.

But Ciel, being much smaller, managed to get part of his torso out before getting stuck, his head too big to get through.

Luckily, they managed to hide what they were doing as the room was lit and the sheet covering their cage was removed.

In total, there were seven lambs —four boys and three girls— which were branded by the cult members that arrived, starting with the girls.

After they finished with the girls, they went to the boys, chuckling about how they were gonna 'get' the Phantomhive boy.

So, they branded the other three boys first, tossing them back in the cage like garbage after they were branded.

Two cultists held Ciel down to the alter while the third reheated the iron, making it as hot as possible as they went to brand the boy, pushing up his shirt to get his lower back.

Vincent was furious at the sight, trying to push the cultists away to no use: the last would never change.

So, he was just forced to listen to his son's screams as he was branded like cattle.

But then, much to Vincent's horror, they didn't stop there, pulling down the boy's shorts.

The two holding him down the forced him to kneel, his stance similar to being hogtied.

Ciel's tiny body was too small to handle any of them without possibly killing him —which they didn't want— so the third stick the iron in the water bucket and switched it around, holding the bow cold branding iron and...violating the ten year old with the handle.

After the disgusting humans 'had their fun' as they called it, he was thrown carelessly back into the cage with it being locked behind him.

Once the cage was covered, the lights went out and the 'people' left.

Ciel sobbed into Zev's arms, horribly violated.

Days passed, several of the seven lambs sacrificed, apparently saving Ciel for a 'special occasion' next week.

But before long, that day arrived and the cultists arrived to 'sacrifice' more lambs.

There were four lambs left, the first two were sacrificed without much fanfare, a mere appetizer to them.

Next, the boy's cage was opened and Zev was pulled out.

Ciel cried out as his friend was pulled away, reaching his arm out of the closed cage as if to pull him back.

And that's when Vincent began to hear Ciel's thoughts.

"Somebody, please help. Anyone at all, I don't care who, please just come. Save us, save us all!" Ciel thought, realizing that no one was coming: that God didn't care

The young boy was forced to watch as Zev was stabbed by the head cultists dagger, drowning out their talk of satanic worship as Ciel began to brake.

And as Zev's blood pooled off the alter, onto the symbol covered tile, the room was filled with shadow.

Within the shadows, was a form of complete pitch blackness, a form that Vincent quickly realized was a demon, was Sebastian.

Sebastian looked to every human in the room, trying to figure out who had summoned him among the dozens.

Many of the cultists gasped, muttering things along the lines, "He actually came."

Others began to pray and ask for God's forgiveness.

But the few began to demand the demon for wishes, asking for things like wealth and eternal life.

The demon ignored them, staring at them one by one with only, "Not you."s between each.

And that's when he finally looked to the boy in the cage, descending to the ground and walking towards him, "You have summoned me here today. That can never be changed; nothing scarified can ever be regained. In exchange for your sacrifice you have earned the right for your wish to be granted. For the price of your soul, I will grant three of your wishes."

Ciel was shocked buts greed to the terms, shaking the demon's extended hand.

With a mere flick of Sebastian's wrist, the cage's door swung open and the boy was helped to his feet.

"Now, Master, your wishes?" Sebastian asked

"Before we negotiate, kill them." Ciel said, trying to buy time to think this though to be smart about it

He couldn't let Zev's sacrifice be in vain.

It took barely a minute for him to kill all the cultists, ripping them apart and stabbing them with his hands.

Sebastian then returned to Ciel, saying, "Tell me, boy, what is your name?"

"It's Ciel. My name is Ciel Phantomhive, I am the heir to the Phantomhive Earldom." Ciel monotonely answered

"I see, good." The demon replied, "In that case before we begin I shall have to take the form befitting the servant of an Earl."

The mist hiding Sebastian’s true form began to fade away as said demon walked out, revealing him how Vincent recognized him, the only different being the butler uniform.

With another flick of Sebastian’s hand, a table with two chairs appeared, forcing Ciel to sit.

Zev’s body floated above the table, showing his role as the martyr who summoned him.

“Now, Master, what do you wish for?” The demon asked, smugly smiling

Ciel began to think furiously, not wanting to mess up this once in a lifetime chance, “They can be anything?”

“Yes, of course. You could wish to become the king of a country, or to obtain the love of a partner you couldn’t before, or to live surrounded by all the money and treasures of the world. Whatever you wish.” Sebastian answered, giving common examples

“What about bringing back the dead?” Ciel asked

“You wish to bring back your sacrifice? Very well, I shall promise you a peaceful time filled with happiness.” The demon said

“You’re lying.” Ciel said, “You said ‘nothing sacrificed can be returned’. You’d just make me believe that he is alive.”

The demon smirked, proving that while he was Sebastian he wasn’t him yet, “I applaud you for figuring that out. You are very perceptive, little master. But as long as you beloved he was alive than how is it different than him actually being alive?”

“For my first wish, I want you to never lie to me, no matter the circumstance.” Ciel decided

“Quite an interesting tactic.” The demon complemented, “Very well, I accept, you first wish will be granted.”

With the first wish made, the contract mark appeared on Ciel’s eye and the demon’s hand.

“Now that I’ve sealed his ability to lie, I need to seal his movement.” Ciel thought

Ciel then spoke aloud, “For my second wish, you must swear absolute obedience to me.”

“For how long?” ‘Sebastian’ asked

“Until my revenge is complete.” Ciel clarified

“Very well.” The demon agreed, the contact marks flashing

“I’ve restrained his lies and movements, now all that’s left is his loyalty.” Ciel thought

“You must never betray me and protect me at all costs.” Ciel said, “That is my final wish.”

The demon tsked, “With the addition of your revenge, that sounds like four wishes, not three.”

“Fine.” Ciel said, rewording it, “Until I have competed my revenge, do not betray me but protect me at all costs.”

That seems to be to the demon’s satisfaction since the contract flashed again, “I shall grant these wishes and receive your soul as recompense.”

“Demon, what is your name?” Ciel asked

“Whatever my Master desires it to be.” The demon replied

“Sebastian.” Ciel decided, “From now on your name will be Sebastian.”

“Certainly. Well then, from now on, Master, please call me Sebastian.” Sebastian said, “Is that the name of your former butler?”

Ciel then smirked, “No, it was my dog’s name.”

Vincent laughed at that, proud of how his son played his cards right.

He was then shown the rest Ciel’s memories: the manor being rebuilt, finding Ann and Tanaka, how he and Sebastian didn’t get along, how he collected servants, his life as Watch Dog, opening Funtom, solving Jack the Ripper, meeting the Indian Prince, his time with the circus and the following murder mystery, his trio with Elizabeth on the Campania, hiw he discovers that Queen Victoria has been behind their family’s suffering, his amnesia and rivalry with the now Prince of Envy, and how he become a demon.

He then watched Ciel’s life as a demon, seeing how he and Sebastian were on bad terms for a decade, the subsequent relationship and their travels around the World, and the many trade goes that had occurred since.

***

By time Vincent was freed from Ciel’s memories, he was in tears, looking down at his son, it was clear he had been forced to relive those memories as well...


	39. An Idea

Narrator's POV

It had three months since Sebastian's death.

Currently, Ciel found himself in the library of his Palace, pouring through every demon history book ever written.

He looked for even the smallest hint that a demon had been brought back to life.

He found dozens of cases about human souls becoming demons, but nothing regarding demonic death.

A demon's death was final and no one knew where their kind went after death.

Unfortunately, most demons passed knowledge down verbally, so there were only a baker's dozen books Ciel had to go through.

But he was very thorough with each one, taking his time reading every sentence to make sure he didn't miss anything.

Just as he was running out of hope, he found a tiny bit of it.

In the final book, a book written thousands of years ago about the time before the King had been locked away, he found one singular instance of a demon being brought back to life.

The demon in question was Lilith, 'Mother' to the original demons and the Queen of Hell.

The book stated that she had been killed by Archangel Michael when Heaven had discovered the continued creation of demons; it had been her death that sealed all supernatural beings —except demons— from Hell for eternity.

It also claimed that after her sacrifice, Lucifer had brought her back to life before he had been sent to the Cage, the Queen again being killed.

Instantly, a plan began to form in Ciel's mind: if he freed Lucifer, he would be able to bring back Sebastian.

The Prince of Pride then turned his research to opening the Cage.

Luckily, one of the books he had on history was a diary written by the first Prince of Pride.

It held a first person account of when Lucifer had been locked away.

"Horrendum visu intueri possent manibus erat celestis imperatoris Us Morningstar uocauerunt eum in caveam. Quis potest facere nisi Pater fuit in praesidio erat factum ut Cage circum se. Per tempus alter Transierunt noster rex erat inclusum tenetur paterni exitii carcerem et nostrae Reginae cadaver in pariete ex eo, eam formet pacificis, sicut si esset medium somnos modo effunditur cinis qui siliquis, qui erant cum ea oculis ore dicere nihil aliud. Septem duces dicata ipsi nos liberantem magna cecidit ad unum. Saeculorum decursu, fratribus et sororibus fuisse suffectos novum daemonum liberantem se minus interested in regem Lucifero quam ultimum nunc tandem Prince ego conatus ad aliquem mittere liberabo eum. Timeo quod nimis cito mos reponi Patre nostro, et erit in vincula conici in perpetuum Cage." (It was a horribly spectacular sight to watch the invisible hand of the Heavenly Ruler grab the Morningstar and confine him within the Cage. There was nothing anyone could do to protect the Father as the Cage was constructed around him. By the time a second passed, our King was locked away in his impenetrable prison and our Queen's corpse against the wall of it, her form peaceful as if she were mid-slumber with only the burned husks that were once her eyes and mouth to tell any different. The seven of us Princes dedicated ourselves to freeing the Great Fallen One. Over the centuries, my brothers and sisters have been replaced by new demons, each less interested in freeing King Lucifer than the last, now I am the last Prince putting forth any effort to free him. I fear that I too soon will be replaced and our Father will be imprisoned in his Cage permanently.)

The diary was an absolute jackpot that he had skipped in his initial reading, reading the notes and possibilities that might open the Cage, memorizing every last detail as he made his plan.

***

It was a few minutes passed midnight when the cat demon emerged alone from his Palace, the majority of his entourage asleep.

Ciel has been to the Grand Palace dozens of times, but he had never been to the Cage they lay a few hundred feet behind it.

The blunette had no words to accurately describe it, it seemed to seep in and out of reality with every blink, but thensimplest way he could think it: the Cage was a cube of what looked like obsidian and tar inscribed with golden words and symbols.

It was unsettling to be near it, the world pulsating around him with every step he made towards it, almost becoming nauseating as he placed his fingertips on the Cage.

Much like Hell, the Cage was cold to the touch, though the structure felt like it was hundreds of degrees below freezing and he imagined if he were human the skin of his fingers would be blue with frostbite and his skin would rip off when he removed them from the Cage.

And while the Cage itself tried to repel him away, a part of his mind felt incredibly called towards it.

Just for a split second, something occurred so fast that he swore that it was just an illusion, but he thought he heard the most beautiful, almost otherworldly singing.

***

It took months of careful math and study, hours of translating the runes and enochian words covering the cage to even begin to figure out how to open it.

But one silent night, Ciel found himself again alone, sitting a few feet from the Cage doing the math.

He came to the Cage every night without fail, finding it easier to work near it than write down the symbols and take it back to the Palace.

"It's been certainly been at least a few centuries since a Prince has come here." A voice said behind him

Quickly turning around, Ciel was surprised to see Tender.

Tender sat beside him, "It's been ever longer since any of you lot have tried to free him."

Ciel was silent for a few moments before asking, "Why are you here then?"

"It's soothing to come here, to be where Hell started, where we landed." Tender answered

"Landed?" Ciel thought

The other male smirked, seeming knowing what he was thinking as he ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, "Yes, the rumors are true."

Ciel didn't need him to elaborate, knowing exactly what rumors he referred to: Tender was one of the Ancient Ones, a fallen angel.

"I still remember that day this all began as if it were yesterday. Father had our siblings tie up our wings and push us out of Heaven, we fell through the skies and crashed through the Earth all the way here. The Earth has recovered from our fall a bit, but most of the damage remained; I think humans call it the 'Mariana Trench' now." Tender reminisced, “This was suppose to be our Prison, Father wanted to punish us for our rebellion by forcing us to torture the damned for eternity, but my Brother wouldn’t let that stand. He wanted this place to be a home, well as much as a home it could be with demons.”

“Have you found a way to open it?” Ciel asked

Tender shook his head, “No, Father was thorough with his work, I cannot touch it without dying. Several of my siblings died figuring that out.”...


	40. Divine Revenge

Narrator's POV

By the time it had been six months since his mate died, Ciel Phantomhive believed he had figured out how to crack open the Cage.

There were lots of rituals involved, but the final and most important of them was crafting the Key.

The key that would open the Cage was made out of an ingredient from each sentient humanoid being there was: the bluest human soul, a witch’s blood, a few angel feathers, a reaper’s skull and a dead demon’s heart.

The soul and feathers were the easiest to get, both being supplied by Tender.

The witch’s blood wouldn’t be that hard to get, seeing that he had a list in his Palace of all witches.

Witches were such strange creatures to him, they were so incredibly rare, both human and demon at the same time; witch itself was a broad term referring to both half-breeds and humans gifted magic by a demon.

Ciel didn’t understand why a demon would give up a part of their magic to simply extend a human’s life a few hundred years instead of just turning them if they mattered so much or why they would mate with a human instead of a demon when the fertility rate was already so low.

But either way, there were currently thirteen witches alive and as Prince he could just order any one of them to give up their blood.

The only difficult ingredients were the skull and heart seeing that: A, reapers do their best to avoid demons and B, a demon’s body disappeared after death.

***

It wasn’t until now, when victory was so close, that Ciel finally told his group what he had been doing the past few months.

So, the seven teams plot into two groups of three to gather the remaining two ingredients.

Bella, Lau and Ran-Mao would be getting the reaper’s skull and Ciel, Vincent and Ann would be getting the demon’s heart.

***

Bella decided That not any reaper’s skull would be fitting to open the Cage: she wanted the one that had ordered the hit on Ciel that had resulted in her brother’s death.

So, she turned to vine she had, remembering how her brother had been flirted with by that red reaper Grell Sutcliff.

Once she had located said reaper within London, she invited her to a little café, introducing herself as Sebastian’s sister.

“Ooh, I didn’t know dear Bassy has a sister!” The reaper excitedly said, “He always seemed like the lone wolf type to me.”

“Yes, well, Grell, I do have a few questions for you and then I’ll give you your gift.” Bella reminded

“That’s no fun but oh well. What do you want to know?” Grell asked, wanting to know what gift Bassy was giving her through his sister

“Have you heard of any reaper hiring demons?” Bella asked

“There was a rumor of a few demons entering the realm a few months ago but nothing concrete.” Grell answered, “Why?”

“The why isn’t important. Do you know who the rumors say who the demons went to?” Bella questioned

“Brian Duke, I think, he’s one of the Heads of the English Branch.” Grell informed, “Can I have my present now?”

“One more question and it’s all yours.” Bella promised, “Where can I find this Brian Duke?”

“He doesn’t really leave the realer realm though its office gossip that he has a human girlfriend here in town that he visits on Sunday.” Grell whispered with a giggle

Satisfied with the answers, Bella reached into his bag and pulled out the small Polaroid, giving it to the other woman.

Grell looked down at it, seeing a photo of her dear Bassy playing the violin.

Squealing a bit, she hugged the photo close and skipped away, not realizing it was charmed and would disappear in an hour and return back to the album in Hell it belonged to.

Pleased with how the ‘interrogation’ had gone, Bella stood up and went over to where Lau and Ran-Mao ha seven waiting at the other side of the café, “Ok, I know where we’re going next.”

***

Back with Ciel, his father and his aunt, they were in the library in Pride Palace.

Every Prince has a list of every demon alive that held their name, sin, age and how long they had been a demon.

And like Bella, he decided that not just any demon would fit the bill to be an ingredient.

So he opened it and flipped until he found the ‘R’ section.

Scanning the list, he read, “Rabbit, Raccoon, Ram, Rat, Raven...”

He found the one he was looking for on the fifth line, “Raven. Envy. Age 25 years. Been a demon for 6 months.”

Ciel then casted a Prince’s Summons, a spell only prince’s had that would summon the demon of his choice to him.

Once cast, he had no idea how long it would take for him to arrive, seeing that Ciel had never used this spell before, having discovered it in his research.

***

Bella has been to the Reaper’s Realm only once before, back when she was centuries younger, before the Plague, with both of her brothers by her side.

It had been a fun occasion then, their sire no where to be seen and accompanied by dozens of other demons during a raid to the Soul Library to steal as many souls as they could.

The raids had long since ceased after the reapers made deals with the Princes, even now she could feel the adrenaline from that day costing through her veins.

But today, she wasn’t here to steal souls, no, she was here for revenge.

The trio of demons broke into the Administration Building and shadowjumped their way past all the working reapers until they made it to the office labeled ‘Duke’.

Going inside, they found an empty office, but after a quick look through his things they found an address for a London apartment.

Escaping the realm the same way they entered, the three demons then made their way to the aforementioned apartment, finding the reaper eating dinner with a human woman.

A fight quickly broke out, but the reaper was fighting three to one against fully armed demons, it wasn’t long before they had him beat.

Bella kicked him against the wall, cracking the drywall, “This is for the pain you’ve caused me.”

She then kicked him again, this time in the gut, cracking the wall even more, “That is for the agony you’ve given my brother-in-law.”

“And this.” Bella said, raising her demon sword, “This is for what you did to my brother.”

Her blade crashed against his neck, cutting his head right off.

***

It took only an hour for the confused demon to stumble into Pride Palace.

Raven had no idea why he had been summoned to a Prince’s Palace, he had only been a demon for a few months and had done nothing in that time.

He was still learning how to be a demon, he hadn’t even had a meal yet.

But, either way, he was forced to kneel in front of the throne, waiting for the Prince to arrive.

The young demon was expecting a monster of a being to enter the throne room, so he was very surprised to see what looked to be a teenage boy with navy blue hair enter the room with a gold spiked, tar tipped crown on his head.

“Do you know why I have summoned you, Raven?” The Prince of Pride asked

“N-No, your highness.” Raven replied, worried he had broken a Duke he didn’t know about

The Prince told him to come forward and handed him a glass of what seemed to be white wine, telling him to drink.

Raven gulped but did as told, not wanting to disobey a Prince and face their wrath.

His world began to go black as the Prince spoke, “It’s nothing you’ve done, Raven, your only crime is your existence.”

***

Now that all the ingredients were gathered, the fallen angel and the six demons stood before the Cage, the Raven demon chained against a nearby tree.

The ingredients were poured together into a caldron, the skull ground to dust first.

The blunette went up to the drugged demon, stabbing him in the brain and then punched a hole into his chest, pulling out his beating heart.

The heart was small, shriveled and pitch black, far from its once healthy human appearance.

Ciel then ripped it into pieces as he tossed it into the caldron.

The bunking caldron began to smoke as the liquids boiled away, revealing a key that seemed to be made out of bones, the grains filled with blood, the handle shaped like feather while the bit was shaped like a heart.

With all the rituals, a keyhole appeared, so, Ciel took the key from the caldron and put it into the lock.

Twisting the key with one hand, Ciel held onto his necklace with his other as the Cage began to open, holding Sebastian’s ring, whispering through the nonexistent bond, “Not much longer now, my Raven.”...


	41. On the Other Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The demonic afterlife is inspired by the Empty from Supernatural.

Narrator's POV

It was a realm of nothingness.

There was no walls, no ceiling, barely even a floor, and as far as the eye could see there was nothing but blackness.

That is a demon's afterlife.

There is no ruling force here, there didn't need to be in this world where almost all the occupants slept eternity away.

Though, very few of the occupants did wake, they usually went insane in the nothingness of death, but some managed to hold onto their sanity with others.

Sebastian Michaelis shot straight up as he woke, looking around in confusion.

His hand went to his stomach, no longer was there a fatal wound, but just his flesh and ripped clothes.

"Where am I?" Sebastian thought as he stood, immediately noticing that the contract mark was missing from his hand

He scratched his hand a bit, trying to will it into returning, also noticing that his wedding band was gone as well.

The raven demon began to walk around, looking for a way out or someone else who was awake.

As he walked, he came across many sleeping demons, some of which he recognized, confirming his suspicions that he was dead.

Sebastian wasn't sure how long he walked, there seemed to be no concept of time here, it could have been seconds or decades and he wouldn't know.

Eventually, he came across a figure sprinting in the darkness and immediately ran up to them, stopping them.

"Raven?" The male demon asked as he landed on the ground from being shoved

"Bear?" Sebastian asked, recognizing the former Prince that had run the Fields during his mandatory days

The Native American man got back onto his feet, remembering his best torturer from the Fields, "It's certainly been awhile, mostly since I'm dead."

"Yeah." Sebastian awkwardly agreed

As the pair walked, Bear chuckled, "I was hoping it'd be you or Tasmanian."

"What?" Sebastian asked

"To replace me." Bear clarified, "I knew you lot were getting tired of me. And well, you two were always the best of best. You had the skill and patience, he had the loyalty and determination."

"He is a fine Prince." Sebastian added, while he didn't particularly like Taz he couldn't deny that

After a few minutes? days? of silence, Bear spoke again.

"I will warn you though, Wolf is awake as well." Bear said, knowing of the bitterness Raven had for his sire, "I do believe once he learns you are here he will seek you out for revenge."

"I beat him once, I can beat him again." Sebastian said, scowling at the memory

"Then this is where we part ways, old friend, I'll see you soon." Bear said, leaving

***

Once Bear was gone, Sebastian continued to travel pointlessly.

He didn't really know why he felt compelled to continue walking, but he continued to do so.

He knew there was no escape from death, but he didn't regret a single moment of his decision: Ciel deserved to be the one to live.

He loved Ciel, so much more than his own life.

Before he had met Ciel, his life had been empty, meaningless, a constant cycle of eating and finding a new contract with very few breaks.

Ciel had given him something he had never had before: a meaning.

And he knew that it was Ciel's purpose to be a Prince, it was his purpose to protect him.

So if he could go back in time to the moment he saw the sword heading for his mate, he wouldn't have changed a thing.

While he was thinking about his mate and how much he missed him, the raven demon found himself being tackled from behind.

***

Just as Bear had warned, Wolf was very much awake and very very pissed.

Sebastian found himself being relentlessly beaten by his sire.

For awhile, the raven demon just took it as his skin was bloodied and ripped off his bones.

Even in death, he still had his super-healing and the damage was fixed as quickly as it was done.

After awhile of this, Wolf began to berate him, "You were going to be the perfect demon!"

As he laid there, Sebastian didn't know why but he was reminded of a Monet of his human life.

He barely acknowledged the twentyish years of his over millennia of life where he had been a mortal.

But the movement he thought of was important as it was the day he began down the road to becoming a demon: the day when his village was burned down and he was sold into slavery.

As he stared at the demon on top of him, his brain registered something he had never bothered to piece together before: the man that had come that day was him.

It had been Wolf that asked for all the boys, that had burned his village down, had sold him to the salt mines and subsequently rescued by the church.

And why?

To turn him into a vengeful, eager apprentice he could mold into a puppet Prince.

Wolf began to madly laugh as he saw the relaxation light up in Raven's crimson eyes.

"I made you perfect. A wrath demon with an unquenchable thirst for blood; smart and powerful enough to maneuver through contracts in ease; decaying human memories to not hold you back; unable to be distracted by the petty taste of human substance. A true demon's demon." Wolf bragged, "I made everything you are."

That's was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Sebastian proceeds to flip them over and began to beat Wolf instead, bludgeoning him with all his strength.

"Why?" Was the only question Sebastian had for him

Why do this to him when he aired two others he did nothing to?

Why pick out a human child to torture and manipulate?

Why be an absolute son of a bitch?

After awhile, once he began to calm, he remembered that Wolf has said 'decaying' memories.

Sebastian had always found it odd that he couldn't remember his early life when demon's physically couldn't forget things.

A demon's memories couldn't be destroyed, they could be stolen just like a human's but not destroyed.

That meant Wolf ha storm somewhere, either within his own mind or in some object on Earth —like how Spider had trapped Ciel's soul and memories in that tea box.

"Where are my memories?" Sebastian demanded, throwing yet another punch

"Not telling." Wolf smugly said, spurring blood at his face

"Well I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Sebastian said with another punch, "I can do this for the rest of eternity."

He made his point by ripping out Wolf's spine and the attached ribs and tossing them away, watching as his body healed and sealed back shut.

Sebastian continued to do that with no sign of stopping, occasionally ripping out his heart instead just to keep him on his toes.

After what seemed to be centuries of this, Wolf finally gave in.

He pressed his fingers to the center of Sebastian's forehead and returned what had been taken.

"Alexandre Crowther" Was the first words to enter his memories.

His name was Alexandre Crowther.

His village had been in between modern day Russia and China.

He never knew his parents names but he remembered their faces now: his father was Russian, his mother Chinese.

He was born on December 14, 875.

He was 1,145 years old.

He was exactly a thousand years older than Ciel to the very day.

It seemed the tale he had told his mate had been inaccurate, he had been off by twenty years.

Before he could organize his thoughts, both Sebastian and Wolf noticed a white light above them that was drawing Sebastian in...


	42. What was Lost

Narrator's POV

As the Cage fell apart, a shining light walked out.

With every step the form took, the Cage disintegrated until all that was left was a square of dirt where none of Hell's grey grass had dared to grow.

And while it seemed like the Cage's opening took forever, it had barely been a few seconds —Raven's body hadn't even disappeared yet.

All of Hell was made aware of this as the Cage was completely gone, finishing off was a massive burst of energy that shook the very foundation of the realm for a few seconds.

And that's when the blinding light dimmed down to reveal a rather tall man with shaggy dark grey hair and magenta eyes.

He wore golden gladiator sandals and black toga that was held in place with a black leather belt.

And, as if he needed any proof of his identity, was his wings.

The wings held evidence of once being a pure white, but were now greyed and even black in some places, large chunks of feathers were missing and even gave off the appearance of having been burned and ripped.

Resting upon the fallen angel's head was what Ciel was certain was formerly a halo, a ring of gold snapped in half and now looking rather like the stereotypical horns.

Lucifer's eyes fluttered open and closed as he adjusted to the dim light the flameglass cast, after a minute or two, he spoke, facing Ciel, noticing Pride's crown around his neck, "My child."

And while the rest of the King seemed worst for wear, his voice was perfectly intact and strong, in fact it was one of the most beautiful voices Ciel had ever heard, but there was one voice he wanted to hear more.

"Hello, your majesty." Ciel greeted with a slight bow of his head, "I would like to make a request."

Lucifer chuckled, "Well it does seem that I owe you for helping me get out, what would you like, my son?"

"There is a demon that died exactly six months ago, he is Raven. I would like you to bring him back to life." Ciel explained

"I see." Lucifer said, using his powers to call the nearby corpse closer

Lucifer's magic began to focus upon the body as it slowly changed from this Raven to a small white portal.

Two unconscious forms appeared where the body once was, one being Sebastian and the other being a bloodied male demon.

Ciel twitched as he felt a pang in his eye, and a glance at Sebastian's hand told him what happened: their bonds were back in place.

The Prince of Pride dropped to his knees and gently shook his mate, "Sebastian."

The raven demon groaned as his eyes opened and sat up, "Ciel?"

Ciel dove into his arms and they hugged tightly, a few tears of relief and joy leaving Ciel's eyes.

And that's when another groan interrupted their happy moment.

Everyone turned to face the other demon who had been accidentally brought back to life.

"Who is that?" Vincent asked before anyone else could

"That is me and Raven's sire, Wolf." Bella answered through grit teeth, walking over to the named demon and kicking him back down

A crowd had began to form around the courtyard of demons wondering what that burst had been.

All of the other Princes were present and whispers began that Lucifer was free.

One by one, the renaming six Princes approached, each one making a greeting and introduction to Lucifer.

It was at that point Lucifer turned to the other fallen angel, trying his best not to pant as he regained his energy, "Allocen, how long have I been away?"

"Around two hundred and fifty thousand years, brother." Tender replied, the crowds whispering again as the rumors were confirmed

"Where's Lilith?" The King of Hell asked

Tender looked down, "She was killed shortly after you were imprisoned."

Lucifer nodded, he would bring her back when he had enough energy, he had drained himself bringing two back already.

Knowing he needed to step up now as all eyes were on him, Lucifer then addressed the demons around him, "Greetings, my dearest ones, I have returned at last!"

The crowd cheered as Lucifer waited a few seconds before continuing, "Spread the word to those not here. My Princes, meet me in my Palace immediately."

Lucifer with Tender in tow began to head to the Grand Palace, most of the Princes scrambling close behind.

Ciel and Sebastian slowly made there way there as well, the former never letting go of the latter's hand as if he'd disappear.

Meanwhile, Bella busied herself dragging Wolf off.

***

When Ciel and Sebastian arrived into the throne room, Lucifer was already seated and most of the Princes has as well or were in the process of doing so.

The aura of the room was incredibly tense, all of the Princes wondering how everything was going to change.

It had been nearly three hundred thousand years since Hell had had a King or Queen, the Princes having absolute power over demons.

Now all seven of the Princes wondered if that would remain the case or if the King would take over?

Several were even worried that he might start war against Heaven.

At last, the estranged King spoke, "My children, at last we finally meet. Each of you, introduce yourselves to me."

He pointed to Taz first, "I-I'm Tasmanian Devil, sir, but everyone calls me 'Taz'. I'm the Prince of Wrath and I run the Fields of Punishment."

Next was Raccoon, then Sloth, followed by Rabbit, and then Lion.

Now it was Alois, "Hi! I'm Butterfly and I'm the Prince of Envy."

Finally, it was Ciel's turn, Lucifer chuckled, "Ah, yes, my rescuer."

Ciel gave a smirk, "I'm Cat and I'm the Prince of Pride."

That caused another chuckle from the king, "How ironic, the sin that gets me kicked out of Heaven in the first place is the one that saves me."...


	43. A Wake-Up Call

Narrator's POV

After the meeting with Lucifer, the Princes of Gluttony, Greed and Sloth all agreed to help catch the King up in what had happened in his nearly three hundred thousand year absence.

The remaining Princes would pitch in on that but Taz and Rabbit has major responsibilities with the Fields and the Brothel respectively and Alois and Ciel weren't experience enough.

While Ciel usually hated being excluded because of his age, but he honestly didn't care right now, he wanted to spend all the time he could with his mate.

So Ciel found himself back home in Pride Palace cuddling with Sebastian, not a word being said aloud between them.

These six months of separation were tiring on them and for now they wanted to rest and catch-up.

Sebastian told Ciel through their bond what he had learned during his time in death.

"Do you want me to call you Alexandre?" Ciel asked

"I much prefer being Sebastian, as much grief as I give you over it, I will admit it's my favorite name that I've ever been given." Sebastian replied, kissing Ciel's forehead

They talked silently for hours until Ciel eventually fell asleep, his head resting on Sebastian's lap.

Sebastian smiled at the beautiful sight and tucked Ciel properly in before getting up.

With Ciel asleep he stripped and went into the shower for the first time since before he died.

***

Mey-Rin found herself reaping souls in London on a chilly winter day, no longer on lease to the Americans since they got their staff back up.

She carefully made her way through the small crowd, magic hiding her bayonet scythe from average human eyes as to not draw attention.

To most of them, she was just another face in the crowd as she checked her files for confirm her next reaping.

As she made her way down Bond Street, she felt demonic energy nearby.

Just a few stores from her destination, she found the pair of demons leaving the original Funtom store.

There was Sebastian Michaelis wearing a black trenchcoat, matching black gloves, a burnt sienna turtleneck sweater, dark grey jeans, black Dr. Martens and the ugliest sunglasses she had ever seen.

The former butler was carrying several wrapped gifts while Ciel Phantomhive walked beside him, sucking on a lollipop and typing on a pastel pink-cased iPhone that had the iconic cat Funtom logo on it.

The former Earl was dressed similarly wearing a navy blue blazer and eyepatch with a cerulean blue T-shirt, white jeans, black and white checkered Vans, and a amber scarf over his crown-choker.

Sebastian noticed her first, having turned his head towards her, but neither demon gave her a second glance —or in Ciel's case a glance at all— as they continued the opposite way down the street.

***

It had been about two weeks since Sebastian had been returned to life and he had spent just about every moment with his mate.

Currently, they were out shopping for Christmas gifts for Ciel's family and their friends and birthday gifts for them and it would be Ciel's 145th and Sebastian's 1,145th birthday.

Naturally, Ciel loved stopping by his store to check on things whenever they was by one of the dozen or so locations and so they had stopped and shopped.

In one of the gift wrapped boxes was the 135th Anniversary Bitter Rabbit, which would be gifted to Ciel by Sebastian and in the Other was Ciel's gift to Sebastian which the younger demon refused to let his mate discover until their birthday.

And naturally, Ciel with his massive sweet tooth had bought his favorite candies including a few milk flavored lollipops.

The bluenette had barely walked out of the store before ripping off the wrapper and beginning to suck on it.

As they exited the shop, both demons noticed the reaper in the crowd, continuing walking down the street before flipping around and following her to the next soul she was reaping.

After all, if the soul was red or worse they were entitled to it —even though the chances of either of them eating a soul of such bad quality were slim.

They found her walking behind a shop where an employee who was unloading a truck was having a heart attack.

The demons watched as she cut his finger with her scythe to view his cinematic record.

A glance told the demonic pair that the man had a red soul —a slightly below average soul— and that gave them rights to take it.

A quick spell would hide them from the cameras watching and they approached the reaper.

"Mey-Rin~" Ciel called out as they approached, "You have something that belongs to me."

The maroon-haired girl opened her mouth to begin to protest, but held her tongue as she remembered the deal their two species had made.

So, she stood aside and let them take the soul with a sigh.

She watched as the red smoke left the human’s lips and crystallized in Sebastian’s awaiting open palm.

The former maid still couldn’t believe that the Young Master and Mr. Sebastian were horrible demons and that the latter had been the entire time she had known him.

Her mind recounted the memory of that dreadful murders that happened that had nearly killed the butler, when he had visited her before she died to have her send the owl, and how he warned her of answering the door in the middle of the night.

How could this be the same person?

As the demons made their exit, she barely managed to say one word, “Why?”

The eyepatched demon turned back towards her, “‘Why’ what? Why’d a take it? Because I can. Or perhaps why I blackmailed the reapers? Because I can.”

“Why did you leave us?” Mey-Rin asked, thinking back to over a century ago

“Ah, Yes, that.” Ciel answered, “We faked our deaths since I became a demon. The four of you I left behind didn’t matter. Just loyal tools to keep up the façade and protect my manor. And like all tools, you lot were just means to an end and easily replaceable. So when I had no more use for you, I left you behind.”

With that, the two demons walked off towards the natural portal to Hell...


	44. Mending Ties

Narrator's POV

Regardless of the fact he'd been here recently, Sebastian was certain he'd never forget the layout of the Fields of Punishment.

He'd go as far as to say that he could find his way blindfolded or even sleepwalking —if he slept that is.

After all, he had spent the nearly the first two centuries of his millennia of life here.

Today, his presence had been requested by the Prince of Wrath, and regardless of his status as Pride's Consort, he still had to obey the Prince of his sin.

The raven demon had been told to meet the Prince by the entrance if the Greed section, and that's exactly where he found Taz leaning against the gate.

"Hey, Raven." Taz greeted

"Hello." Sebastian greeted, still wondering why he had been summoned

"I need a bit of help with a certain prisoner and your expertise is needed. Go to Cell #G2714 and take care of it." Taz informed

Sebastian nodded and walked towards the cell, still confused why he had been called to torture a soul when there were ninety other Wrath Demons still working in the Fields.

Things immediately made sense when he saw Bella waiting outside of the cell, he had been curious as to what she had done with Wolf.

Though he immediately sensed another familiar presence and turned around, seeing Spider behind him.

The wrath demon growled and summoned his demon sword, causing the gluttony demon to do the same.

Their sister pushed them apart, "Stop it! No fighting. You two have been arguing for centuries and I'm sick of it! We are settling this today after we kill that bastard together! He pinned us against each other and we are going to show him that he isn't shit to us anymore."

That got the brothers to make a tentative truce and they went into the cell.

***

Even in chains, Wolf was as much of a smug bastard as he always had been.

"A family reunion just for lil' ol' me?" Wolf cackled, "You shouldn't have."

That earned him a sharp kick to the ribs from Bella, but it only made him laugh again, "So bitchy, Belladonna, then again you always were such a slut."

“Leave her alone.” Sebastian snapped

Wolf ignored him and continued to mock his sire-daughter, “Do you remember your human life, Belladonna? You were just a common prostitute on the streets of Paris that killed an aggressive client. You’ve always been after men with power and yet you always act like you are actually worth something more than a few coppers and a good night.”

“Leave her alone.” Spider growled

“You weren’t worth much either, Spider, just a common thief in the Byzantine Empire that killed someone in a robbery gone wrong. You’ve always been leeching off of your betters.” Wolf mocked, his attention turned to Claude, though he couldn’t resist getting another jab at Bell, “But at least you were loyal, unlike that whore who’ll part her legs for the highest bidder.”

Wolf then turned to his eldest sire-son, “And then there’s you, the disgruntled alter boy. You were so close to perfect thanks to me and yet you managed to make yourself as worthless as these idiots. I had such high hopes for you and yet you managed to disappoint me every single time. You had such potential to be a Prince and yet you settled to be just another demon, you have no ambition, you always settle and that is why you are a failure.”

Sebastian held strong, not letting his cruel words effect him, “At least I’m my own person, unlike you. You have the same thought as just about every other demon out there: all you obsessed with being or buttering-up to a Prince. You were such a weak person that you didn’t even try to become a Prince yourself before trying to get yourself a puppet. I saw through your crap and cut away my strings a long time ago. You hold no power over me, you might have opened the door for me but I’m the one who got me inside. I suppose you half got what you wanted, the three of us may not be Princes but we’re all consorts to them.”

Sebastian presses his demon sword against Wolf’s chest, prompting his siblings to do the same, “Say ‘hello’ to Bear for me.”

And all at once, the three siblings stabbed him, killing him instantly.

Once his body dusted away, they finally put their weapons away.

"I've got my peace and I've got my boys, my work here is done." Bella declared, leaving the cell

"We are not her boys." Claude said once she was gone

"Yes we are." Sebastian countered as he walked out

"Yeah we are." Claude sighed, leaving as well

***

Meanwhile on Earth, Ciel and Vincent Phantomhive were in England.

The Prince of Pride had made a portal that had spit them out in the woods surrounding Phantomhive Manor.

Well, woods was a loose term, back in the Victorian Era the woods had been a misty forest but now only a small layer of trees surrounded the manor, the rest having been converted into an upper-class suburban neighborhood.

The manor itself had original belonged to the Midfords after Ciel faked his death, they had later sold it and it had passed through several owners until it reached museum status sometime in the 1940's —it was also a popular wedding and prom location.

But today, the father and son pair returned to their home together for the first time since Ciel had been nine years old —seeing that his childhood ended on his tenth birthday.

They had already bought tickets online so they only had to flash their printed tickets to the security guard and walked right in.

Vincent paused as the front door shut behind him: the manor was exactly as he remembered it, not a thing had been changed.

Ciel smiled a bit, since the Phantomhive had been the most notorious owners —according to the museum— the manor was returned to the original form.

They had gotten the tour-guideless tickets so they were free to walk around their home without interruption.

It was quite amusing to read all the plaques around the manor and see how accurate or, more hilariously, inaccurate the 'facts' were.

***

Alois made his way towards the prestigious boarding school, dressed up —with an illusion charm to solidify the look— as an adult woman as he went to pick up his brother from school.

He hadn't seen his little brother in months but it was time for the winter holidays so Luka could come home.

The blond made his way through the line of parents and filled out the necessary forms and it didn't take long for Luka to be returned to him.

As the pair left the school, Luka began babbling about what he had done in these past months and the new friends he had made.

It almost broke Alois'heart to have to tell him that he wouldn't be returning to this school once the school year ended.

Every three years Luka has to go to a different school and start the cycle of kindergarten to second grade all over again.

After all, once Luka had 'reached age 7' the lie stopped being believable as Luka's body was trapped at five years old just like how Alois and Ciel were trapped at fourteen.

But it seemed while Ciel and Alois' minds continued to grow up, Luka never had, so he was eternally a little boy.

The older demon constantly asked him if he wanted to stop the cycle and just stay home all the time, but Luka always declined, he had fun being the smartest kid in class.

***

Meanwhile, at the Gates of Hell, Lucifer sat at the bar.

Ever since he had left the Cage, he had been swarmed by demons, by at last it seemed everything was calming down.

"Samael." A voice in front of him said, taking the King of Hell out of his thoughts

Lucifer smiled sadly, "It's certainly been awhile since I've heard that name."

Before the Fall, that had been his name, back in that simpler time when he had just been the Angel Of Music, before the first humans had been made and just dinosaurs wandered his Father's creation, before Lilith had helped him get free will...


	45. Fun and Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the crackness of the next few chapters, I wanted to have some fun after all the seriousness, though it won't be completely crack.

Narrator's POV

It had been 135 years Ciel had a birthday with his family.

But Ciel knew his 145th birthday would be special.

After all, it wasn't just his birthday, it was Sebastian's too.

The Prince of Pride knew his mate was an absolute drama queen, but he was also an incredibly private person, which is why Ciel would be respecting his wishes to not have it mentioned that it was his birthday as well.

So, today, only Ciel would be celebrated in a small party that only held his family and the rest of his inner circle.

And it was a fun, kinda cozy party.

He was given a few gifts and Sebastian made him a chocolate ganache cake topped with chocolate truffles.

And while Sebastian hadn't been celebrated, Ciel made sure his mate knew how appreciated he was that night.

***

The next day, Ciel was working in his office, sketching some designs he would send to Ethan Midford for the new Bitter Rabbit and Friends Collection under the name Dominick Ghast.

Ciel was taken out of his thoughts when his phone buzzed, he read the name on the screen and saw that Taz had texted him.

PoW Taz: Hey Kitty.

PoW Taz: You and Raven wanna come to TGoH and hang out? Rac and I are playing card games with Luce and its starting to get boring.

Me: Luce?

PoW Taz: Yeah, Lucifer's nickname is Luce. I think he's trying to modernize. Do you want to come?

Ciel sighed and texted back.

Me: We'll come but I'm bringing more people.

PoW Taz: Thanks! See ya in a bit.

***

Before long, Ciel and his entourage arrived to the Gates of Hell Bar, finding the sign in the door flipped to 'closed' while laughter could be heard inside.

Upon arriving inside the bar the group noticed that Tender, Lucifer, Taz, Raccoon, Alois and Claude were sitting in a circle on the floor playing Uno surrounded by lots of alcohol bottles and soda cans in various stages of being full.

In the corner booth, sat a little boy playing contently in a tablet with a can of Coke beside him and a bag of chips.

“Hey!” Taz greeted, “Tender said drinks are on the house, so help yourself.”

“Don’t touch my top shelf liquor m, that shit’s older than half of you.” Tender said angrily as he kept drawing cards

Lau took a bottle of Baijiu to share with Ran-Mao, Ann decided upon a bottle of gin, Vincent taking a whiskey, Bella having a bottle of Chambord.

Ciel normally didn’t drink, but thought, “Fuck it.” as he picked up cake flavored vodka to split with his mate.

Since demons had a resistance to intoxicants, it would take several bottles to even get them tipsy, so yeah, it was going to be a long night.

The group waited for the round of Uno to finish, Lucifer winning on a plus four, to join in after explaining the rules.

After a few rounds, the game changed to never have I ever.

The first few turns of that where pretty tame, but Ann threw a curveball.

"Never have I ever crossdressed." Ann said, giving Ciel a devious smile as she took a drink from her bottle

Ciel sighed and took one as well, as his Alois, Bella as well as surprisingly Taz.

“Don’t ask.” Taz pleaded, staring into his bottle

"Never have I ever Googled my own name to see what comes up." Claude said, being generic

Everyone familiar with google took a shot.

Raccoon took his turn, taking a shot, “Never have I ever jumped out of a plane."

"Does a helicopter count?" Tender asked

"Sure." Raccoon shrugged as Tender took a drink from his craft beer

"Never have I ever been to Disney World." Alois said, taking a sip

"I've been to the one in Tokyo, if that Land or World?" Ciel asked

"Eh, it still counts either way." Alois shrugged as both Ciel and Sebastian took a sip from their shared vodka

Taz shrugged, not having a good idea, "Never have I ever dipped french fries into a milkshake."

He was surprised when no one else took a shot, "What, you guys have bad taste."

"It's called we aren't disgusting." Tender countered

"I've never even had a french fry before." Ciel nonchalantly said

That made heads turn to him, everyone that hadn't missed out on the last century looked at him confusedly, "Have you never had fast food before?"

"I haven't, not for the lack of trying though. The closest I've gotten is Starbucks and soda fountains at pharmacies back in the 1960's." Ciel answered, "Raven doesn't want me eating all that filler."

"Then we gotta take you out to eat after this." Taz laughed, "You want McDonalds or Sonic?"

"Which is better?" Ciel asked

"Sonic had better sweets and stuff but McDonalds fries are way better." Taz explained

"Let's go to Sonic then." Ciel said, not believing he was having this conversation

Next was Bella’s turn, “Never have I ever flirted with a police officer in hopes of not getting a arrested.”

She, Ann and Ran-Mao all took a drink, but no one else did.

“Never been arrested.” Ciel shrugged

“Seeing that you were the one arresting everyone.” Ann muttered loudly

“It’s not arresting if you kill them.” Ciel replied

Now it was Lucifer’s turn, “Never have I ever played "Never have I ever" before.”

Nearly every drank to that, this was a first time for many of them.

The game continued for a while until it slowly turned into truth or dare...


	46. Truth or Dare

Narrator's POV

As the game of truth or dare progressed, everyone had a turn, but eventually it became Alois’ turn.

Alois hummed, "Raccoon, truth or dare?"

"Dare." The Prince of Greed replied

"I dare you to eat a Tide Pod." Alois decided

"Nice, old memes." Raccoon sighed before turning to Tender, "You got any?"

"No, but I have the dishwasher equivalent." Tender replied, getting up and going behind the bar and pulling out a bag from under the counter, tossing it to him

Raccoon sighed yet again and took one out of the package, placing it in his mouth.

"Every bite is an adventure. Every bite gives me meaning and purpose." Raccoon muttered around his chews, beginning to spit out the detergent as well as blood, "I have not lived until this moment."

"That I do believe." Taz said under his breath

After getting over the chemicals and vomiting a few times outside, Raccoon spoke, "Spider, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Claude decides

"When we start playing cards again, if you lose you have to smash a spider on camera." Raccoon decided with a shrug, not really having a good idea

"I thought you were gonna say his balls." Bella wheezed, nearly spitting out her drink

"What the Hell is wrong with you? 'Hey, Spider, if you loose the card game you have to put your fucking testicles on the counter and beat them with a hammer!'." Claude exclaimed, staring at her shocked

"Do it! No balls!" Alois giggled

"Literally." Taz remarked

Claude shook his head while holding his face in his hands, “Taz, truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Taz said

“I dare you to eat a beer bottle. Whoever it’s full or no is up to you, you just have to eat it.” Claude decided

Taz groaned and grabbed one of Tender’s discarded bottles, taking a bite out of the top, crunching it, “What is it with you guys and eating weird shit?”

"Kitty, truth or dare?" Taz asked once he finished the bottle

"Truth." Ciel answered, not wanting to do a dare

Taz thought for a movement before asking, "Ok, Kitty, what is the happiest moment of your life?"

***

On December 14, 1885 the grounds surrounding Phantomhive Manor were blanketed in soft layer of snow.

When the sun rose on that wonderful morning, it didn't take more than the sound of Tanaka opening Ciel’s bedroom door for the birthday boy to burst awake.

It didn't take long for the now ten year old boy to be dressed and escorted to the dining room, the ten year old all but running there.

Upon entering the dining room, the blunette sat at his usual seat next to his father at the head of the table.

"Happy birthday, darling." Rachel greeted, also in her usual place beside Vincent and across from Ciel

"Happy birthday, Ciel." Vincent said, placing a hand on his son's head affectionately

"Thank you." Ciel politely replied, "Is Lizzy coming today?"

Rachel's smile disappeared as she became the bearer of bad news, "Not today, darling, the snow on the roads are too thick for their carriage to pass through."

Ciel frowned, "What about Aunt Ann, Uncle Chlaus or Uncle Diedrich?"

Now Vincent had to deliver the bad news, "Chlaus is still in Italy and Diedrich is inGermany. And the hospital wouldn't let Ann have the day off today, unfortunately, December is a very busy time for them."

The birthday boy continued to frown, now he had no one to play with today.

Rachel put her hand on top of Vincent's, "But today will still be fun, Ciel, the three of us will play together."

That brought the smile back to the birthday boy's face as breakfast was served.

After breakfast, Tanaka helped Ciel into warmer clothing, bundling him up in scarfs and woolen gloves as he prepared to go play in the snow.

It didn't take long until the family of three along with their family dog, Sebastian, where in warm clothing —the dog even wearing a scarf around his neck on top of his collar— as they went out into the snow.

Vincent and Rachel sat on the stone bench in the garden, Rachel's head resting on her husband's shoulder as they watched their son build a snowman with Sebastian.

'With' was a strong word, it was more like Ciel was rolling the snow into balls while the loving dog followed him, his fluffy tail wagging happily.

The husband and wife chuckled a bit when Sebastian kept pulling the stick-arms off of the snowman and dropping them in front of the young boy, thinking he and Ciel were playing fetch.

The Earl and his wife chatted for a bit, but were suddenly taken out of conversation when a snowball hit the Earl's chest.

Ciel blushed as their heads turned to him, thinking father might be angry with him.

That worry faded away when the older man laughed and made a snowball of his own and began to chase after him, threatening to throw it at him.

Ciel circled around the garden, nearly tripping over Sebastian a few times as he made his way over to mother, hiding behind her.

Ciel clung to the skirts of his mother's magenta wool gown, giggling as he hid from the snowball his father was aiming at him.

Rachel laughed as the snowball landed a foot in front of her, taking her hands out of her mink muff and placing it on the stone bench as she helped Ciel make his own arsenal.

Vincent gulped, knowing it was now two against one as he hurriedly began to make his own snowballs.

The snowball fight lasted awhile until their cheeks and ears were red with the cold and they returned indoors to warm by the fire and have a nice cup of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea, or in Ciel's case a hot chocolate with lots of cream.

After finishing his drink, the birthday boy sat on the floor in front of the fire next to were the black borzoi was laying down, beginning to play with him while he waited for his parents to finish their drinks.

The rest of the day trickled by, the family having lunch and dinner together with the boy blowing the candles out on his chocolate ganache birthday cake.

After he opened all of his presents, the ten year old yawned as his bedtime approached.

Vincent noticed how sleepy he was getting, picking him up and carrying him towards his bedroom, Rachel and Sebastian following closely behind.

Rachel and Vincent helped the little boy into his pajamas and read him a bedtime story, tucking him in and leaving him to rest.

A few hours later, Ciel woke up coughing as the smell of smoke irritated his fragile lungs.

***

Ciel shrugged, obviously not wanting to tell the truth, so he gave a generic answer, "Fine, it was when Raven and I became mates."

The cat demon then tried to shift focus from himself by making Bella do a stupid dare...


	47. Truth and Dirty Truth

Narrator's POV

As the game of truth or dare progressed, the well of funny dares began to dry up, resulting in the game becoming truth or dirty truth.

Currently, the twelve players were naturally on the topic of deepthroating because of course they were.

How they got to adding a giraffe to the mix is long forgotten, though it probably had to do with them segueing who could deepthroat the most.

"Anyone could deepthroat a giraffe, you just couldn't deepthroat one, no one has enough packing to do that." Claude said

"Maybe not you." Vincent snidely muttered, making the people around him laugh

"You would need a Moby Huge to even come close to deepthroating a giraffe." Alois remarked

"What the fuck is a Moby Huge?" Tender asked

"Google it." Alois giggled, causing everyone with a phone to do just that

"Oh my sin." Bella muttered as she was first to find it, "It's a three foot tall dildø about as wide as a frying pan."

"There's a chick posing next to it and she looks like a fucking dwarf compared to that monster." Raccoon said in disbelief

"It's five hundred dollars!" Taz exclaimed in horror, still in shock

"On the customer questions and answers someone asked 'will this fit in my ass?' and the top-voted answer is 'it fits in mine.'" Ciel read, trying not to laugh

Everyone began to laugh at that.

"That man needs no prep at all." Raccoon wheezed

"It's so horrifying it's almost beautiful, but ultimately still just terrible." Ann muttered

"Now, we don't need to further unpack this, let's get back to the game." Lucifer said, trying to get them off this path

Taz cleated his threat, remembering it was his turn, "Raven, truth or dirty truth?"

"Truth." Sebastian replied, wanting to avoid another detour that would come with the other option

"What was your shortest deal?" Taz asked

***

This was not a tale of revenge and greed; this was a tale of wretched survival.

As needed to summon a demon, a sacrifice had been slain and the utter desperation was there.

When Raven materialized where he had been summoned, his true form hidden in black smoke as always, the first thing he noticed was the smell.

Demons naturally had a heightened sense of smell —just like their other senses—, but Raven was certain he had never smelt anything as unappealing as the rotting flesh and excrement that surrounded him in the packed hull of this ship.

The next thing the wrath demon noticed was the hundreds of starving humans surrounded him, his new master and the sacrifice.

That is when the truth of his location dawned upon the incubus: he was in a slave ship.

All it took was a glance down at the sacrifice, a young woman who had been whipped to death, and another towards his master, a ragged man also covered in whipping wounds, to say it all.

His master was dying, that much was certain, but his wish was just as crystal clear in his brown eyes: free them.

The demon made his way to the top of the ship and looked up towards the crow's nest of the ship confirmed everything.

The nest was empty of humans, but within there stood a male reaper —one he would one day learn to be named William T. Spears— holding a list.

The demon and the reaper made eye contact, the latter giving him a slight nod, showing they were here for a similar purpose and that the reaper would not interfere with the demon's work.

Raven turned away, now looking towards the crew of the ship as immediately began to attack and kill them all.

The ones that remained tried to fend him off, stabbing him with their swords and shooting him with their guns and even with a canon ball, none of them even made him flinch.

The silent reaper shadowed the demon, still unseen by human eyes, collecting the cinematic records —and the attached soul— of the dead humans.

But the wrath demon paid him no mind as he killed the final crew members and went back downstairs.

He freed each and every last African from their chains, silent —mostly because he couldn't speak their languages as he had never been contracted in Africa before— as they even rushed away from him or some even presumably thanked him —if he was reading their body language correctly.

Within a few minutes, the only chained African in the room was his master, who was barely clinging to life.

The incubus then stood before his master and collected his soul.

Once his payment was consumed, he found himself returned to where he had been when he answered the call.

Normally, he didn't take deals, usually preferring the entertainment that came with contracts, but work was work and hunger was hunger.

The demon didn't know what became of those he freed, he was employed only to free them, not take them to land.

That deal took less than five minutes.

***

Sebastian shrugged, his contract with Ciel stipulated that he had to be truthful to Ciel, he didn't have to give others the same luxury, "About average, a few minutes."

Beside Taz sat Ran-Mao, so it was now her turn.

The normally silent lust demon turned to Bella, "Truth or dirty truth?"

"Dirty truth." Bella decided

"What was the weirdest moment of your love life?" Ran-Mao asked

***

Wondering the streets of early eleventh century Paris, which was currently the biggest city in Europe, Florie Donadieu made her way towards the nearest cemetery.

As she entered the lonely cemetery, she began humming a tune as she pulled white linen gloves from the pocket of her her orange linen gown and put them on.

The eighteen year old girl had worked for the town brothel since she had been thirteen, and while the six years she had been a courtesan had been horrible, it taught her a few things.

But most importantly, during the funeral of one of her friends, she had noticed a patch of flowers near the back of the cemetery.

The beautiful flowers were small and purple with a almost bell like shape.

From afar they liked half-dead, but when she had take a closer look after the funeral, she had learned what they were thanks to a conversation with a friendly grave digger.

The purple flowers were belladonnas, or rather, deadly nightshade.

With her fingers protected from the lethal petals, she plucked a few from their stems and put them in the pouch she had hidden in her dress pocket.

She also gathered a few dozen berries off the plant and left the cemetery.

Florie then made her way back into town, heading to one of the biggest houses belonging to her lover, Balian Dubois.

Since the servants recognized her after all the times she had been hired by Mister Dubois, they let her right in without question.

Florie went right upstairs to Madame Dubois' sitting room and poured the bowl of green grapes —which she had noticed on her last visit— into her pocket, putting the nightshade berries in their place.

And if everything went perfectly, her lover's wife would be poisoned and Florie could marry Balian to escape her life as a courtesan.

The black haired girl then left the house as swiftly as she came and returned to the brothel.

The following day, she discovered the worst news she could've heard: the berries poisoned the wrong person.

It was not Mrs. Dubois that died, it was Balian.

Almost immediately, Mrs. Dubois sought out revenge, demanding the constables find her husband's poisoner.

That brought Florie to a panic, she could easily be discovered since it was common knowledge since she was Balian's mistress.

Unknowingly, the courtesan had both the sacrifice and the desperation to summon a demon.

And by the end of the day she became one as well.

***

Bella laughed, her human life was a well kept secret she hid, but she was more than willing to mention her demonic one, "Before I took my three hundred year nap, I had this boyfriend. He was Angler and he was a wrath demon. Anyways, this fucker was a jerk of the highest degree. By the time I broke up with him he started stalking me and crap. I remember one night I was out just walking around and he was just following me, not being discreet at all. So naturally, I walked him into a demon hound den and left him to get his ass handed to him. They didn't kill him unfortunately but Raven did make sure he got the message clear."...


	48. Heartburn

Narrator's POV

"I adore Star Wars, Ben Solo and Anakin Skywalker are some of the best characters in film history. Raven can't stand sci-fi, I had to drag him to the theater to see the episode nine last December." Ciel said, having answered truth

"I don't enjoy science fiction for the same reason I don't like historical fiction: I've lived it. Give the humans a couple thousand years and we'll be living in the science fiction world." Sebastian clarified, "But I especially don't like Star Wars because every time we see one of the films you complain for months about how they messed up."

"I do not complain that much." Ciel said, rolling his eyes

The wrath demon turned to his mate, and deadpanned, "For a solid month after the Rise of Skywalker you groaned about, and I quote, "Disney having the balls to kill the most interesting character in the whole damn trilogy."

"You still haven't answered my question." Alois said

"Oh, right, the celebrity I'd sleep with without any hesitation is Adam Driver." Ciel shrugged

"Well, guys, it's been a great time." Taz announced, "But I think we're all ready for tonight to end seeing that it's nearly noon. How about one more game of uno with teams and we can go eat?"

***

Uno

"We have to think...deep." Taz mumbled to Racoon

"I always think about going deep, mate." Raccoon replied, the amount of Guinness in his system getting to him, "She's like 'baby, go deeper' and I'm like 'bitch, you know I already ran out of dick'."

***

The group of ten demons and two fallen angels made their way through the portal Tender created to his car in the human world. When they approached the black Cadillac Convertible, they immediately noticed the fact that there was five seats.

So now the majority began to argue over who got to seat in the seats and who sat on laps and who would sit on the trunk with their legs around someone seated.

Once that was settled, the argument over who would drive began.

Eventually, Sebastian won since he was the least intoxicated of the bunch wanting to drive.

Tender sighed tossing him the keys and sitting in the passenger seat.

Everyone piled in, Ciel sat on Sebastian's lap as the latter adjusted the mirrors to his height.

As the raven demon started the engine, Tender said to the group, "Remember, everyone, if we get pulled over none of us speak English."

There was a small laugh and then they drove off, Tender providing directions to the nearest Sonic.

Ciel looked around as they parked in the drive-in restaurant, being reminded of the drive-in theaters of a few decades ago.

He then looked to the menu, seeing it full of greasy and sweet foods.

Since the cat demon was the closest to the button, it was decided he would order, "Do I punch it in or do I talk to them."

"You talk to them." Taz answered

"Damn it, if I got to punch it in I would be way less embarrassed about what's about to happen." Ciel sighed, "What do you all want?"

After noting all of the requests, Ciel began to order, adding random things he wanted and the large black coffee Sebastian requested after awhile.

It took ages for their over $200 order to arrive in three giant bags and five drink carriers carried by three waiters, but once it arrived it was quickly distributed and eaten.

"So I ordered this ocean water thinking it was like a flavored water." Ciel said, sipping the straw of his drink, "But it's Sprite with coconut flavoring and I'm so disappointed."

Ciel then pointed the straw towards his dad, "Try it."

Once everyone he was willing to share with tried it, they all agreed that it was slightly disappointing but over all fine.

"Wait, Kitty." Taz said, presenting the other prince with a box of fries and a chocolate milkshake, "You have to try what prompted this whole trip."

Ciel grabbed one of those freed fries, dumping into into the shake, getting some on it as well as whipped cream and trying it.

And immediately spitting it out into a napkin, "This is by far the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten."

Sebastian's eyebrow raised at that, so he spoke through their bond, "I thought my cooking when I started as your butler was the most disgusting thing you've ever had?"

"I'd rather eat that! At least that was nearly edible." Ciel replied through the bond

Taz pouted, "We can agree to disagree, and besides I'm right and I'll accept my victory gracefully."...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We have reached the end of the crack chapters. The final two will be legit chapters.


	49. Silk and Lace

Narrator's POV

About an hour after the trip to Sonic, Alois sat in Envy Palace within his office.

He was furious and saddened, and well, envious.

Just like before, everyone liked Ciel more than him.

Ciel had had the better soul, the most perfect soul a demon could want, a far more brilliant blue.

Ciel was arguably one of the most, if not the most, popular prince in Hell.

Ciel had been the one that discovered how to open the Cage and was clearly Lucifer's favorite.

Why did fate love Ciel so? It wasn't fair.

***

A few days later, Ciel was sitting in the library of his palace with his mate.

While Ciel read a new favorite of his, "Three Dark Crowns" by Kendare Blake, he laid his head on his mate's lap, said mate stoking his hair affectionately while he read a book of his own —Stephen King's "IT".

Though, Sebastian had long since stopped paying his book any attention, more interesting in the sight of his beautiful succubus.

"Ciel Vincent Nathaniel Phantomhive-Michaelis. Such a beautiful little demon." Sebastian thought happily, "And he's my mate. Mine. All mine. Mine to worship and love for eternity. I speak thirty languages, yet none of them have enough words to describe how much I love him. From his snarky remarks and dark humor, to his loving kisses and sleepy cuddles. From the plump of his lips, and the blue and lavender of his eyes, to his small frame and wide hips. For everything that can and can't be seen, I adore everything about him."

The incubus' thoughts began to shift a bit, "And yet, I feel so paranoid all the time that I'm just a placeholder, that I'm truly not worthy of his love but all he has."

Leaving his thoughts, Sebastian noticed Ciel was heavily blushing, it seems he wasn't as quiet with his thoughts as he believed.

"You're the only one I want, Seb." Ciel softy said, leaning up and pressuring their lips together, "I'll never want another incubus nor man. I figured out how to open the Cage just to get you back.

Ciel his smile gaining a sadness as he cuddled against him, "Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, I discovered something this morning: I'm pregnant, nearly a two weeks along."

Sebastian held his mate close, he had heard of a baby to come five times before, and each time the baby never made it past the first few months.

The raven demon truly hoped this one would be the lucky one that would work; Ciel's heart had been broken so many times in his short life, it would be cruel to continue to do so.

"Do you wish to share the news?" Sebastian asked, stroking Ciel's flat belly

The cat demon shook his head, "No, no one else will know; not until I'm in labor."

"Of course, my love." Sebastian said, understanding, "Do you wish to nap? Or perhaps continuing relaxing?"

"Relaxing will be fine." Ciel softly said, a deep sadness obvious in his heterochromatic eyes

Sebastian thought for a moment, cupping Ciel's face in his gloved hands, "How about we go to the Spring."

That brought a smile to Ciel's face, "Absolutely."

It didn't take long for the demons to get up, or for the succubus to create a portal there.

***

The Spring, or more accurately a hot spring inside of a forest in France, was a gorgeous place.

Sebastian had discovered it centuries ago, and had shown it to his mate the day after they had become mates, so now it was their refuge when we they wanted to just disappear.

Though, that was a bit more difficult now that a national park had been established there with lots of campers and hunters there, so the feel of isolation was gone.

But, luckily for them, it was the middle of the night and it seemed that no camps had been set within a mile on any side, so they were at least a bit alone.

The pair stripped, dropping their clothes carelessly onto the grass, and went into the shallow hot spring, the taller of the two leaning against a rock that conveniently was a bit taller than him sitting so he was hidden from view.

Ciel then straddled his lap, wrapping his legs around his waist.

It didn't take long for their lips to meet as they were reminded of their honeymoon.

After awhile, they parted and just sat cuddled together, not saying anything.

Ciel reared his head on Sebastian's shoulder, "Our anniversary is in two days."

Sebastian hummed agreeably, "Our hundred and second anniversary. Don't worry, I fully plan to keep my promise from the Hunt."

Ciel giggled a bit, having pushed that from his mind, "You better not."

"After all, if I did then what kind of mate would I be?" Sebastian said with a slight smirk, leaning his head on top of Ciel's...


	50. Epilogue

Narrator's POV

About nine months later, Ciel's water broke while playing chess with his father and he went into labor. 

Because his aunt was a doctor, Ciel trusted only her to deliver his child —admirer having made her take a few lessons with a demonic midwife to learn how to do a male birth.

The labor itself was long, taking nearly ten hours to cut open Ciel's stomach and womb, retrieve the baby and her white wings whilst fighting the super healing of Ciel's body and sew Ciel back up so his body didn't use too much energy healing an open wound.

But, by morning, Castalia Elizabeth Michaelis was born.

After the labor, Ciel fell asleep, leaving Sebastian to be the first one to hold her.

A few tears may or may not have been shed by the new father, though Ann and Vincent would never tell, remembering how Vincent bad sobbed when Ciel had been born.

It took a few days, but at last Ciel and Castalia were awake at the same time and the former was immediately adoring of the other.

On the day the little girl was a week old, she was the apple of her mother's eye.

Ciel constantly tended to bed, rarely ever putting her in her own bassinet and keeping her in bed with him while he healed —while demons could heal for any wound instantly, succubi needed a few weeks to recover from birth.

By the time the little demon was a month old, her features settled for their permanent colors.

Her hair was the same navy blue she shared with her mother and grandfather, she had the same big eyes and circular face, but her red eyes were very much her father's.

Additionally, it was determined that she was a gluttony demon and she was Dove demon.

The new family of three could often be found cuddling together in bed, their little one resting on a pillow, Ciel closest for her and Sebastian protectively behind him.

***

A hundred years later, two hundred and forty-six year old Ciel Phantomhive-Michaelis sat in the garden of his palace, sipping at his porcelain tea cup filled with Earl Grey tea.

His other hand's fingers were laced together with his mate's, who was sitting across from him.

Their focus was not upon each other, but rather the demons running around across the garden.

Near the center of the garden, one hundred year old Castalia levitated about two feet off the ground.

In her arms was her two year old little brother, Zevachiah Alexandre Michaelis.

Since his birth, little Zev was his always told that he was his father's clone, having the same black wild hair and slim eyes, but his eyes color was a brilliant sapphire blue.

The littlest demon in the family, was a demon of greed like his grandfather, but ironically, his type of animal was Wolf.

Currently, the happy toddler wiggles in his sister's arms, trying to get the flower she was levitating towards.

Once he got the prettiest rose in the bush, he was placed on the ground and toddled as fast as his little legs could carry him towards his mummy.

Zev then climbed his way onto his mother's lap, the rose's stem clenched in his fist and he showed Ciel the gift he brought.

The Prince of Pride smiled and accepted the gift, thanking him.

It seemed Zev was still learning his own strength, the rose's stem was bent and the petals were hanging limply from the broken shaft, but Ciel didn't mind at all, wearing the flower on his ear.

He then kissed his baby's forehead and watched as the youngling went back to play with his sister.

For the first time in a long time, Ciel was truly happy, his life was perfect and he wouldn't change anything.

Currently, ten rest of his Inner Circle were out living their own lives, doing contracts and deals and just traveling the world —he was even getting suspicious of a growing flame between his father and his aunt.

But either way, life was perfect and he would do anything to keep it this way forever.

***

Across Hell, another family was doing something very similar to the Phantomhive-Michaelis', currently the Faustus' were lounging around the game room in Envy Palace.

Alois was sitting in the floor, trying to coax his feisty four year old into giving Luca back his controller.

The little wrath demon that had his father's black hair and mother's pale blue eyes pursed his lips, "No!"

"Darion Ignatios Faustus, give your uncle his controller." Alois demanded

“No!” The dog demon said, beginning a tantrum

Luca sighed, “Its ok, he can have it, brother.”

“Weally?” The ten year old said, his glasses fogged from his tears

“Only id you promise to play with me” Luca said, smiling at him

“Ok.” Darion soiled, running off with him

Alois sighed and plopped on the couch, he hated when Claude went on contract and left him alone.

The End

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [His Father, Possessive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25369090) by [MidnightNinja27](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightNinja27/pseuds/MidnightNinja27)




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